Krispy Kreme

They started in Winston-Salem NC in 1937 with a secret doughnut recipe from a New Orleans based French chef. From those humble beginnings, they expanded to become for many peeps who grew up in the South, THE doughnut.

When the 'Hot Fresh Doughnuts' sign gets lit, the stampede is on.

Everyone has a regional favorite food or guilty pleasure unique to where they grew up. You've heard me wax poetic about Blue Bell ice cream on this blog, but as a Houstonian I didn't get introduced to them until 2000.

They are Krispy Kreme doughnuts, but I call them 'Krispy Krack' because once you eat one, you won't stop until the box is empty.

I grew up on Shipley's, a local Houston chain's doughnuts. I loved them so much that when I drove back home in 2005 for my brother's wedding I hit the drive-thru and bought a dozen to eat on the long drive back to Da Ville.

One of my former flight attendant co-workers Lorna Etheridge, grew up in Charleston, SC. She was positively giddy when she heard another flight attendant mention during a conversation we were having at my gate that Houston was finally getting Krispy Kreme franchises.

One of the initial Houston franchises opened up near my old southwest side apartment on the corner of Westheimer and Dairy-Ashford Road, and I was amazed to see peeps standing in long lines at various times to eagerly devour them. Most of the peeps in line were transplants who missed their favorite doughnuts and were happily getting reacquainted with them.

One day I finally decided to see what the fuss was all about and bought two glazed ones to try, and ended up buying a dozen of them to take home.

I have a Krispy Kreme location not far from where I live here in Da Ville on Bardstown Road near the Watterson Expressway. I prefer to get them there even though they are sold at local convenience stores because they taste better when they're hot. Even if they've been sitting around for a minute, I stick them in the microwave before chowing down on them.

Don't look now, but Krispy Kreme is coming to your hood if it isn't already there. They opened their first international store in Toronto in 2001 and are expanding to other countries as well.

On that note, time for me to roll and get some. Maybe I can get there just as the 'Hot Fresh Doughnuts' light comes on.

Williams Sisters Tackle The 2009 French Open

While Wimbledon has been the personal playground of my favorite tennis playing siblings, the French Open and the clay courts of Stade Roland Garros have been more problematic.

The Williams sisters combined have won the French Open singles title once over their careers, with Serena's 2002 win coming at the expense of Big Sis.

The French Open started on May 24 and Venus' lousy luck at the French Open continued. Her quest for that elusive first French Open singles title is on hold until next year. She was knocked out in the third round after losing in straight sets 0-6, 4-6 at the hands of Hungary's Agnes Szavay.

The Williams sisters are playing doubles in this tournament as well and are attempting to win their first doubles crown here since 1999.

They have captured the 2008 Wimbledon, Olympic, US Open and 2009 Australian Open doubles titles, and are attempting to win all the Grand Slam events in the same year.

Little Sis is still alive in her quest to capture her second French Open title and 11th Grand slam title overall. Serena had a tough first round match with the Czech Republic's Klara Zakopalova that she eventually won 6-3, 6-7, 6-4.

She won her second round match with Spain's Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain 6-2, 6-0 and got through a sloppy third round three set 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. The match was marred by a first set blown call when a ball hit by Serena struck her opponent at a critical point in the game. Little Sis also had 25 unforced errors and four double faults, but moves on to the fourth round.

The French Open is running through June 7, and here's hoping my fave tennis playing sisters finally break through and take home from Paris the singles and doubles championship trophies.

Nigerian Gender Chickens Coming Home To Roost

Here's a classic example of chickens coming home to roost.

Back in November I chronicled the whining and insulting gender based bitching the Nigerian women's national soccer team, AKA the Super Falcons did before, during and after the shocking 1-0 semifinal loss to Equatorial Guinea in the 6th Africa Women's Cup championship tournament.

That tournament was eventually won by the homestanding women of Equatorial Guinea, who beat South Africa 2-1 in the final. It marked the first time that another nation besides African women's soccer powerhouse Nigeria took home the championship since the tournament started in 1998.

The Super Falcons weren't happy campers about their third place finish. Nigeria Football Federation chairman Sani Lulu Abdullahi said afterward, "This is an embarrassment to the nation. It is clear that there must be an overhaul in several aspects of our women's football."

One of them is pull up the big girl panties, learn how to lose gracefully and stop whining. Instead of the five time defending African champion Super Falcons focusing on correcting their lousy play during this tournament, the coaches and players threw 'that's a man' shade at Equatorial Guinea players Binguisa Simpore and Salimata Simpore, and EQ team captain Anonma Genoveva, who scored seven goals and was the MVP of the tournament.

The Nigerians complained so much about it that the CAF, the governing body for soccer on the African continent will begin instituting gender testing before the 2010 tournament. Next year's tournament will be a qualifier for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup tournament being held in Germany.

So now that I've laid out the backstory, here's the interesting part.

There is a promising Nigerian teen player by the name of Bessy Ekaete Boniface. As a 16 year old striker she was invited in 2007 to the Super Falcons training camp.

Translation, Ekaete has game.

While being given her medical exam for the national team they discovered she was intersex. She not only was denied a chance to compete for and win a spot with the Super Falcons, the club team she was playing for, the Delta Queens of Asaba dropped her as well.

Unfortunately Ekaete was the major breadwinner of her nine person family and it had deleterious effects on them. Her Delta Queen teammates raised ₦50,000 ($337.84 USD) for her, but her career is still in limbo right now.

FIFA defines you as female for the purposes of competition if you're menstruating, even if you have ambiguous genitalia. That's still a problematic definition.

Because the Nigerian Football Federation played themselves and raised a loud public stink about the Equatorial Guinea players, they can't put her on the national team without looking like hypocrites.

The doctor's report that was released with her permission stated, "She has gender identification problem. She was examined and found to have the features of female, beginning from her external appearance, voice and reaction to issues.

"In my opinion, she is phenotypically female and should not be discriminated against. However she requires other investigations, surgery and hormone therapy to put her in perfect condition.'

But that still doesn't help Ekaete's current situation. Gbenga Omole, who runs an organization called Goldenwing33 Nigeria Limited that uses sports to keep kids from turning to organized crime, has begun an effort to raise the ₦2 million ($13,514 USD) for the surgery she'll need to play at the pro and international level.

When Omole announced that he'd set up an account at a local Nigerian bank group for Ekaete, he stated, "Please help this great future Falcon that will bring honour to this country, joy to many homes and pride to those who will help her today.

"Can't wait to see her back like Kanu Nwankwo did (Nigerian Super Eagles team captain), stronger and better. We urge Nigerians to come to her assistance and save a fledgling career".

Too bad y'all didn't show the same level of compassion for the women of the African champion Equatorial Guinea national team you slimed, but better late than never.

Why No CBC On US Cable Systems?

On my local cable system I have access to over 900 channels of news, sports, movie channels and entertainment. I have digital and HD channels, I have Telemundo. I even have the BBC.

But what I don't have as part of my cable system is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

You would think that in terms of the Canadians being our next door neighbors, our country's largest trading partner, and the fact that many Canadian systems carry US networks like CNN that our systems would reciprocate and carry the CBC.

Um,no.

While I'm aware that the areas closest to the US-Canadian border do receive over the air CBC broadcasts on their TV sets, I'm not aware if it extends to cable systems that serve those border states as well and doubt they do.

It's interesting to me since much of Canada's population lives within 100 miles of our shared 5,500 mile border, that the average Canadian is better versed in US politics than the average American is.

I'd be willing to bet, as our last president demonstrated, that most Americans couldn't tell you who Canada's prime minister is, much less tell you any general geographic or political facts about our northern neighbor.

FYI, it's Stephen Harper. My Canadian friends not so fondly refer to him as either Harpo or 'The Pit Bull In A Sweater Vest'.

While some people in the States may have no problem remaining blissfully ignorant about what transpires in the Great White North, I'm not one of them. As a transperson borders don't matter as much. What happens in one nation affects me in some way here. As a child of the Diaspora I'm also connected to some of my Canadian cousins as well through our shared African ancestry and common threads in our cross border history.

It's also my desire of wanting to be an informed citizen that fuels my hunger to know more about my northern (and southern) neighbors and be versed in the issues that concern them. It's even more of a concern now that we're about to embark upon in the States what promises to be a messy debate about overhauling our crappy health care system.

You can bet the Rethuglicans will do everything possible to smear the Canadian single payer universal healthcare system like they always do when we crank up these periodic discussions. If we had the CBC on many of our cable systems they wouldn't be able to get away with telling the lies they do about it.

Shut Up Fool! Awards-Take Me Out To The Ballgame Edition

Our Shut Up Fool! Awards mascot made an appearance at Wrigley Field this week. He threw out the first pitch for the Cubs game versus the Pittsburgh Pirates and attempted to sing 'Take Me Out To The Ballgame' during the 7th inning.



Okay, now that you survived viewing this video, let's see what fool we get to pity this week.

As Mr. T would say, so many fools so little time. Once again I had a target rich environment in terms of fools to select this week.

The GOP put on their pointed hoods this week to trash President Obama's historic nominee for the Supreme Court in Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

So out of all the outrageous lies, accusations, obfuscations and distortions of her record, and Mike Huckabee calling her Maria, the most outrageous came from the winner, ol' Turd Blossom himself, Karl Rove.

Bush's Brain had the nerve to part his lips and say, “I’m not really certain how intellectually strong she would be, she has not been very strong on the second circuit.”

Okay, you have a college dropout calling someone who graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton stupid.

She also was a co-recipient of the M. Taylor Pyne Prize, the highest honor Princeton awards to an undergraduate, went on to Yale Law School and served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal and managing editor of the Yale Studies in World Public Order.

Sotomayor brings more in terms of judicial experience and serving on a federal court in 100 years. She has more judicial experience than all the current justices sitting on the Court.

Karl Rove, Shut up RACIST fool!

Playa Playa Archie Picks Veronica

I used to collect and read the Archie comic books back in the day and still occasionally peruse them from time to time.

Thanks to the TG Graphics and Fiction Archive site, I ran across an interesting gender bending Archie one in Issue 516 called 'The Other Side Of The Fence'.

His mother Mary Andrews was frustrated about the trials and tribulations of raising a teenage son and imagined what life would be like if Archie were her daughter instead of her son.

After imagining a grass is greener idyllic scenario, a lunch date with Mrs. Lodge and Mrs. Cooper gives her the 411 about the difficulties of raising teenage daughters.

Both women confide to Mary that they considered her the lucky one and the trio of mothers quickly agree that whether you have sons or daughters, it's still a tough job to raise them.

It then concludes with Mrs. Andrews coming home, hugging her son and realizing she wouldn't change that for the world.

One of the long running stories in the Archie comic book series is the love triangle between Archie Andrews, sophisticated spoiled rich girl Veronica Lodge and the loyal girl next door with the big heart Betty Cooper.

After 68 years Archie and the gang finally grow up starting with Issue 600, which hits the stands in August.

They skip the story ahead five years after their graduation from Riverdale High and as they are just starting their fresh out of college post-graduate lives.

The story is going to play out over the next six issues, but it's already leaked out which one of his high school honeys Archie proposes to.

It's Veronica.

I've always been rooting for Betty as you can tell, and hoped one day Archie would see the light and they'd one day get hitched.

Hey I'm an unabashed romantic, so sue me.

While Betty was doing things for Archie, Veronica always seemed to me to keep Archie at arms length until she sensed that Betty was getting the upper hand. She'd then start paying more romantic attention to Archie until he was focused on her to Veronica's satisfaction, then once Archie's eyes were back on her, the cycle would start all over again.

Well, as you can see on the Issue 600 cover, Archie is proposing to her just as Betty is walking past the jewelry store and witnessed the whole thing.

But knowing how indecisive Archie has been, Betty may still have a fighting chance. Veronica only has the ring. Neither she nor Archie have walked down the aisle and said 'I do' yet.

So stay tuned, this could get interesting.

Category Closed-Goodbye Octavia

TransGriot Note: Still looking for information concerning Octavia's funeral which occurred May 26. The only thing I've been able to find so far on the Web is a comment on the Parlour magazine site from a commenter named J'alla. If I find any video, photos or other commentary elsewhere it will be attached to this post.

In the meantime, here's J'alla's description of the service.


I was able to attend the funeral and I must say, Octavia Saint Laurent’s service was just as heartfelt and larger than life as the diva herself.

From individual roses being given on cue to members of her family upon their mention during the reading of her Eulogy, a video w photos from some of Octavia’s best photo shoots to an exclusive mastered recording of Octavia singing the song “God’s Command,” that she especially made to have played at her funeral, love and fabulocity overcame the room.

Octavia’s mother, brother and sister also shared memories about Octavia and her passion for her activist work in the LGBT which shed an insightful and personal light on the performer and model.

Octavia’s funeral brought family, friends and generations of legendary children from all over the ball scene such as Kevin Aviance and many others together leaving mere standing room only.

Even in transition, Octavia looked beautiful. Dressed in pink and white and with flawless makeup, the service closed with attendees strolling to take their final views of her to the legendary ball track “Love is the Message.”

RIP Octavia Saint Laurent.

TBLG Discrimination Protections Voted Down in Shelby County, TN Commission Committee

TransGriot Note: Memphis has witnessed several transpeople either being beat down, killed or injured last year. In addition to that, GLBT peeps living there experience discrimination like they do everywhere else.

Of course, when someone proposes an ordinance to attack the discrimination issue, out come the Christobigots. It's worse anytime you have a megahate church like Bellevue Baptist in the vicinity.

Pay particular attention to the comments of Shelby County commissioner Archie Bunker, oops Wyatt Bunker. Give you one guess where he attends church.

The good news is that because it was a 5-5 vote, the full commission gets to vote on the ordinance June 1


Discrimination Protections for Gays Voted Down in County Commission Committee
by Bianca Phillips
Memphis Flyer.com
Wednesday May 27, 2009


"There's nothing wrong with discrimination," said Shelby County Commissioner Wyatt Bunker, while addressing the county commission committee charged with a vote on an ordinance that would prevent discrimination toward gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender workers in Shelby County government.

Though audible gasps from the audience followed Bunker's statement, five other commissioners apparently agreed, as they voted down the ordinance in committee. The ordinance will still go to the full commission for a vote on Monday.

The original ordinance, proposed by commissioner Steve Mulroy, would protect Shelby County employees, workers with county contractors, and employees of large private businesses in unincorporated Shelby County.

Commissioners Deidre Malone and J.W. Gibson proposed an amendment to the ordinance removing protections for all but Shelby County government employees.

"We need to get our own house in order before we can start regulating other people," said Malone.

Gibson also had concerns about the cost of enforcing the ordinance, if passed.

"This will require time and more people," Gibson said.

But Mulroy disagreed, stating that no additional investigators would be needed in the county's human resources office.

"It's not like we're going to have investigators roving the hallways looking for discrimination problems," Mulroy said. "The [Equal Opportunity Employment] Commission investigates based on complaints, just like they already do with other issues of discrimination."

Religious convictions guided the votes of several commissioners, including Mike Carpenter and Bunker. Bunker blamed the ordinance on a "homosexual agenda" and compared protections for gays to "the seven deadly sins."

"Once [homosexuals] get their foot in the door, they push their way through society until [homosexuality] becomes the norm," said Bunker.

Supporters and opposition for the ordinance filled the committee meeting room. Brad Watkins with the Mid-South Peace & Justice Center pleaded with commission members to consider God’s love when using Christian faith to justify their opinion on the ordinance.

"Our faith is one of inclusion and love. We can't say that we love someone and then sit back and discriminate against them," said Watkins.

The Freezer Project

TransGriot Note: Wonderful story from north of the border about a meals project that helps recovering post operative trans peeps

Freezer Project Eases The Transition

By Sarah Fraser
Ottawa
Wednesday May 27, 2009
Xtra.ca.com

Post SRS Trans Folk Get Boost From Program

Now entering its second year, the Freezer Project is an initiative that provides a portable freezer containing 30 homemade frozen meals —and the occasional ice cream bar or eclair — to individuals who have undergone sex reassignment surgery (SRS).

The project, started by trans activist and community agitator Elizabeth Tyler in 2008, is a free service open to both trans men and trans women. It fills a critical gap for people who may not have other options in terms of household support post-surgery.

"The freezers typically go out to folks who are living alone or who are low income."

The project began after Tyler observed an acquaintance recuperating from a bilateral mastectomy. His recovery was a painful and difficult one.

"After the surgery, he couldn't open his pain medication. He couldn't use the can opener to open a can of beans. He even had trouble taking the top off of spaghetti sauce," Tyler says.

"That's how the Freezer Project was born. I thought, 'Hey, someone should do this.' Then I thought, 'I guess that person is me.' It was easy to take action on."

Prior to surgery, Tyler meets with clients to understand their preferences and needs. They discuss whether the individual has any food allergies or restrictions, such as a vegetarian diet, and they work out the month-long menu together.

Tyler drops off the freezer after the client returns from the hospital and then picks it up in 30 days' time. In the meantime, the client simply takes a Tupperware container out of the freezer each night, lets it thaw and the food is ready to be heated and eaten the following day. No additional prep is needed.

When it comes to potential clients, Tyler says that she goes on an honour system and wants to keep it that way.

"If someone wants to be a recipient of [a] freezer and feels that they need it, I do my best to arrange it for them. I would not turn anyone down, and so far, the service has not been abused."

Although Tyler is the one who initiated this project, the wider Ottawa community is now getting involved in the process of cooking and assembling the meals for each freezer.

"The Freezer Project engages the community — it gives folks a chance to help out in a simple and easy way," Tyler says.

How does it work? Tyler typically rounds up seven other volunteer cooks and asks each person to make a large pot of a specific dish, like chili or stew. They each divide their dish into four portions, which equals a month's worth of food. A little bit of effort ends up making a huge difference in someone's recovery.

For the freezer that's about to be assembled, one of Ottawa's roller derby teams has volunteered to cook everything and put it together. Amazingly, the food, the freezer and the Tupperware containers come entirely from donations and the person receiving the freezer does not pay for the service.

Beyond it being free, Tyler believes that the Freezer Project offers benefits that services like Meals on Wheels does not.

"[With] Meals on Wheels...there is not as much choice," Tyler said. "And [they] deliver at lunch time, which is not always the most convenient for people. With the Freezer Project, you create your own menu and have more variety. And we try to keep the contents nutritious."

Given that SRS is now included under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) — a move made by Ontario's Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care in June 2008 — more people will be able to undergo SRS. And the Freezer Project will undoubtedly grow as a result. In fact, in the last year, the project has served five clients in the Ottawa-Carleton region and more are requesting the service. Tyler is working on expanding the Freezer Project beyond Ottawa.

"The hope is to see the project take off in other cities — I'm trying to spread the word far and wide. I think the program could be applied to many different situations: I concentrate specifically on trans men and women because...there is a need for it, and it is close to my heart," said Tyler.

"I'm not aware of any other such projects in the world. It is very simple to run, and it doesn't cost a thing."

So far, the feedback Tyler has received from clients has been tremendously positive. She has received thank you cards in the mail and heartening comments from recipients.

"People appreciate that it is free and think it's a wonderful project."

If you or someone you know is interested in receiving a freezer or volunteering for the project, please contact Elizabeth Tyler at thefreezerproject@ live.com.


©2009 Pink Triangle Press

There They Go Again-RepubliKKKan Racism

It didn't take long for the right wingers to attack President Obama's pick of Judge Sotomayor.

The privileged white males of the GOP and their puppet ruler Michael Steele within hours of the nomination were merrily attacking her education, cherry picking rulings from her long judicial career, called her an 'affirmative action hire' and based on a snippet of a YouTube video were calling her 'racist'.

It takes one to know one.

I found it laughable that two GOP college dropouts in Rush Limbaugh and Karl Rove would have the cojones to call a summa cum laude Princetnn grad and editor of the Yale Law Review 'stupid'.

You boys been chomping on those Hater tots again haven't you?

But these aren't the only white sheet wearing haters that have come out of the GOP woodpile.





Sen. James Imhofe (R-OK) stated, "Of primary concern to me is whether or not Judge Sotomayor follows the proper role of judges and refrains from legislating from the bench. Some of her recent comments on this matter have given me cause for great concern. In the months ahead, it will be important for those of us in the U.S. Senate to weigh her qualifications and character as well as her ability to rule fairly without undue influence from her own personal race, gender, or political preferences.

Oh yeah, and the 110 other people who sat on the Court, especially the 107 past and present white males who occupied those seats all made rulings without their personal biases and upbringing coming into play.

The bottom line is that the GOP is hatin' on the fact that President Obama has once again put them in a political bind. They can't go overboard on attacking this historic choice or else they not only look like the intolerant bigots they are, they risk losing the support of Latinos for decades and cement their status as the 'rich white male party.'

Life Is Hot In Cracktown

I've been talking about this movie for awhile since Kerry Washington is playing a transwoman in it.

This film is based on the 1993 novel by Buddy Giovinazzi and also stars Evan Ross.



Life Is Hot In Cracktown features four stories that present a gripping and realistic view of an inner city neighborhood devastated by the ravages of crack cocaine. Giovinazzo had been trying to adapt his novel into a feature film for years. Thanks to Kerry Washington's interest in the script, he was able to finally shoot the film in 2008.

While I wasn't happy about the 'Black transwoman hooker' stereotype rearing its ugly head again, I'm curious to see how she plays Marybeth. Kerry likes to portray her characters as accurately as possible, and had LA transactivist Valerie Spencer advising her for this film.

The movie opens in a theater near you on June 26

Who Was The First African-American Transwoman?

In 1906 Kelly Miller stated, "All great people glorify their history and look back upon their early attainments with a spiritual vision."

Because the half century of transgender history so far has been predominately written by people who don't share my ethnic heritage, it has only covered one facet of the story.

We know for example that Lili Elbe was the first person to undergo gender transition in the 1930's, that Christine Jorgensen in 1953 was the first post-war one that garnered huge media attention, and about the exploits of other transwomen from Coccinelle to Renee Richards to Dana International.

But it's only in the last few years that the stories of pioneering non-white transpeople have been coming to the forefront. Fortunately, some of those stories were recorded in the pages of our iconic magazines JET, EBONY and Sepia. Thanks to the Johnson Publishing Company agreement with Google that resulted in JET and EBONY being digitized and placed online in their book search feature to peruse, some of those stories are now coming to light.

As a transperson of African descent who comes from a family of historians, I want to know and revel in my history. Just as I'm keenly aware of the varied historical accomplishments of my people, I want to know the same things about Black transpeople as well.

I am one of three African-Americans who has won the IFGE Trinity Award. Dr. Marisa Richmond is the first African-American transperson to be elected as a major party convention delegate for her state. I know that Avon Wilson was the first African-American and first person to go through Johns Hopkins gender program in 1966

But what irritates me at times is that I don't definitively know (yet) who was the first African-American person to transition.

I've been encouraged lately to see some tantalizing clues surface pointing to an answer to that question.

About the same time that the media was fixated on Christine Jorgensen, an article appeared in the June 18, 1953 issue of JET magazine.

It began following the story across several JET issues of Pittsburgh's Carlett Brown. Because Denmark's laws restricted the surgery to Danish nationals, Carlett took the drastic step of renouncing her US citizenship in order to be able to have SRS done in Denmark and have her HRT supervised by Dr. Christian Hamburger, Christine Jorgensen's endocrinologist.

I'll have to write up her fascinating story in another post since I'm still reading through more than a few issues of JET to find out how the story ended.

A Sepia magazine article and two 1965 National Insider tabloid articles claim New Orleans born Delisa Newton, who was 31 when she transitioned is that person.

Sepia magazine was a Fort Worth, TX based competitor of EBONY/JET similar in style to Look magazine that published from 1948-1983. The African-American Museum in Dallas, TX has the picture files of Sepia Magazine in its archives.

It seems appropriate that one of the contenders was born in New Orleans. Delisa was billed as ‘The First Negro Sex Change’ in that 1966 article, but they probably weren't aware of Avon Wilson yet. I'd also have to check with what's left of the New Orleans transgender community to see if Delisa is still alive.

These are the articles in question pointing to Delisa Newton. I have yet to find those Sepia magazine articles online or see them.

* Delisa Newton. “My lover beat me”. National Insider, June 20, 1965: 4-5.
* Delisa Newton. “Why I could never marry a white man!”. National Insider July 18, 1965: 17.
* Delisa Newton. “From Man to Woman”. Sepia. 1966.

JET also had a small blurb in its March 16, 1967 issue about 28 year old Philadelphian Carole Small. She was working as a female illusionist-singer in Germany and was reported to be in Denmark getting SRS. Assuming she's still alive, she'd be approaching her 70th birthday.

Carole was quoted as saying in that article, "Black women in America are among the luckiest on the face of the earth and it will be marvelous to be one."

Your late 20th century-early 21st century sisters echo those sentiments as well. It would be nice for us to know exactly who was our first and hear about how their lives progressed post surgery.

In order to continue progressing toward our glorious future, we must know about our past in order to get a better understanding of our present.

As I keep perusing these older issues of EBONY/JET, I'm discovering they did a much better job of covering gender issues back in the day than I'd been aware of.

It's Sonia Sotomayor!

Can I call it or what?

I've been saying since 2007 that the next Supreme Court justice pick would be a Latino/a. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see that it was going to and needed to happen. It's also smart politics to start including the fastest growing ethnic group into the upper echelons of our government.

President Obama made more history today by selecting US Second District Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter. It was something that was long overdue in terms of adding more diversity to the highest court in the land and more women on a court dominated by seven white males and honorary white man Clarence Thomas.

Looking forward to seeing her in the Supreme Court photo this October once she's confirmed.

Happy 60th Birthday, Pam Grier!

I posted last month about how much I loved Pam Grier back in the day and still do. Well, today she celebrates her milestone 60th birthday.









Yes, Pam still has it going on. She was the first sistah to appear on the cover of Ms. magazine back in the day.

Happy birthday, Pam. May you have many more.

Happy Memorial Day 'Errbody'!

Happy Memorial Day 'errbody'.

I hope you're enjoying your unofficial first summer weekend, and are giving those barbecue pits a workout. I also hope you took time to say a prayer for the men and women who are putting their lives on the line and who paid the ultimate price to sever our country.

2009 Houston Splash-Miss You Cookie

Houston Splash happened the week of May 7-11, the same time I was in Washington DC. It's our contribution to the schedule of Black prides that take place across the country.

This year's event probably was tinged with sadness on a few levels. In addition to the fact Galveston is still recovering from the direct hit it took from Hurricane Ike last year, East Beach, where the beach party portion of the Splash events takes place is still torn up from Ike's assault on it.

The other part is that Splash's longtime emcee, 'The Mouth of the South' AKA Cookie LaCook is no longer with us. Cookie is still missed even though its been almost two years since she passed away.

Charles Bolden, Jr. Nominated To Become First Black NASA Head

Retired Marine Corps General Charles Bolden, Jr. made a lot of history during his 13 year NASA career as an astronaut. He logged 680 hours in space on four shuttle mission, piloted the shuttle and was mission commander on two from 1980 to 1994.

On May 23 the former deputy administrator of NASA was nominated for the job by President Obama. Assuming the Senate confirms his nomination, he is set to become the first African-American to head NASA.

"Charlie Bolden is well known to everybody in the space community from the human spaceflight side of the house, where he's had extensive shuttle experience, to the science people he worked with as he was part of the crew that launched the Hubble telescope," says John Logsdon, professor emeritus at the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University.

As a space junkie, in this 40th anniversary year of the Apollo 11 moon landing, I miss the days of frequent moon launches and bold goals for NASA. Much of the medical, computer and other technological advances we enjoy is because of the space program. In order to colonize the moon and land on Mars, we will once again have to put our best and brightest minds to work in addition to once and for all expunging 'intelligent design' from our classrooms.

This nomination comes at a crossroads time for he United States and NASA. While we retire the shuttle fleet next year and wait for the new Constellation and Orion vehicles to be finished for their 2015 launch, the Russians are looking to get their space swagger back.

Japan and several European nations are wishing to become major players in space as the Chinese aggressively work toward their national goals of putting a Chinese space station in orbit by 2012 and landing a Chinese citizen on the moon by 2020

If humanity is going to continue to survive and thrive, we have to step off this planet, explore the solar system and the stars and eventually colonize them. This nominee will have the responsibility of charting NASA's space course for the next twenty years and beyond.

Change Has Come To Philadelphia, MS

Say the words 'Philadelphia, Mississippi' to many African-Americans and the memories of June 21, 1964 and its notorious racist past instantly come to mind.

Visions of hooded Klansmen in front of burning crosses. The picture of missing CORE civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner whose lifeless bodies were dug out of an earthen dam. Edgar Ray Killen, the Klan mastermind of the heinous murders not being convicted of the crime until June 21, 2005, exactly 41 years later.

Much of the African-American community's bitter dislike for Ronald Reagan stems from the fact he started his 1980 presidential campaign in Philadelphia. MS.

Not only did African-Americans see that as a slap in the face given the town's negative civil rights history, he poured gasoline on the fire. By uttering the 'I believe in states' rights' code words in his speech, he solidified his perception among our community that he was an unrepentant racist.

Just as historic change came on November 4, 2008, change has come to Philadelphia, Mississippi as well. 53 year old Philadelphia native James Young, who was nine years old when the events of 1964 happened and remembers the Klan tormenting his neighborhood, earlier this week was elected the first African-American mayor of the town by 46 votes.

"Obama's election sent a message to our people that it was possible. If we can elect a black man as president we can elect a black man as mayor of Philadelphia. In the last couple of weeks I was hearing that a lot in the community," he said.

When you've been treated the way we've been treated," he told CNN, choking up and then pausing to wipe the tears from his face. He refocused and said, "That's why it's so overwhelming to be a part of this history."

Mayor-elect Young is working out of a makeshift transition office provided by a prominent attorney until his inauguration.

"It's an awesome feeling to have that kind of respect that people support you in this way," Young said near the end of our interview. "I'll never let the people down which called for that."

Uncle Ruckus-The Mascot Of Black Conservatives

I'm a huge fan of Aaron McGruder's cartoon 'The Boondocks' (which doesn't appear in my local paper The Courier-Journal for some strange reason). I have the first two seasons of the Boondocks DVD happily parked by my TV and own two of the Boondocks books.

He started on the TV show, but has now migrated to the strip. There's a character called Uncle Ruckus, who is the embodiment of all self-hating sellout blacks.

But you don't have to believe me. Watch the video montage of Uncle Ruckus.




Every time I see Uncle Ruckus, it reminds me of all those Oreo-cookie chomping Stepford Negroes falling all over themselves to appear on Faux News and elsewhere to look and act more conservative than thou.

And screwing their people in the process.

Blacks Must Confront Their Homophobia

TransGriot Note: This is a recent column by my 2004 Pulitzer Prize winning cousin (that's right, my cousin) on a subject that is near and dear to my heart.


Blacks must confront their homophobia
By LEONARD PITTS JR.
lpitts@miamiherald.com

''The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.'' -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

That's for Marion Barry, who seems to need the reminder.

The former mayor and current city councilman of Washington, D.C. is a longtime supporter of gay rights. So observers were stunned last week when a bill committing the city to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere passed the council on a vote of 12-1.

The ''one'' was Barry.

Wait, it gets worse. Barry said his position hasn't changed but warned that the council needs to move slowly on this issue. ''All hell is going to break loose,'' Barry said. ''We may have a civil war. The black community is just adamant against this.'' Indeed, after the vote, a group of black ministers reportedly ''stormed'' the hallway outside the council chambers, vowing political reprisals.

The Washington Post quotes Barry as saying he voted as he did because ''I am representing my constituents.'' He reminded reporters that ``98 percent of my constituents are black, and we don't have but a handful of openly gay residents.''

That's a lot of words to say what he could have said in three: I punked out.

There's something to be said for representing one's constituents. But there is more to be said for leading them. Barry's failure to understand the difference is galling in light of the fact that he was once a leader in the civil-rights movement.

One wonders how differently that movement might have turned out had white people such as Clifford Durr, Viola Liuzzo, Ralph McGill, Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and Lyndon Johnson allowed themselves to be cowed by the angry voices of white men and women saying, ''All hell is going to break loose.'' For that matter, how much longer might the long night of slavery have lasted had white people like Elijah Lovejoy, William Lloyd Garrison, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Lucretia Mott and Thaddeus Stevens bowed to the fact that the white community was ''just adamant'' against freedom.

One wonders, too, whether those black ministers in the hall see their mirror image in generations of white ministers who have used the Bible to condone the evil of slavery (''Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters.'') and the fiction of African-American inferiority (the ''curse'' of Ham).

At day's end, though, the great tragedy here is neither historical amnesia nor moral cowardice. No, the tragedy is embodied in Barry's description of African Americans as a people for whom open homosexuality is rare. That description is, unfortunately, too accurate -- not simply for black Washington, but for black America. We are a socially conservative people.

And our conservatism is, quite literally, killing us.

It is no coincidence the community that has yet to make a safe place for its gay members to openly be who they are, the community that still regards gay as a dirty secret not to be spoken in open company, the community in which people still think gay ''can't happen in my family,'' is also the community that accounts for half of all AIDS diagnoses in this country, the community that has lost 211,000 brothers and sisters to this disease, the community where marriages keep popping like balloons from the discovery that the husband is gay on the ``down low.''

The measure of a man, said Dr. King, is where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Marion Barry should take note. We all should.

Where sexuality is concerned, African America lives by lies. We are long overdue to wake up, grow up and speak up to tell the truth openly and without fear. We are dying in this silence.

And for what it's worth, Martin's measurement still applies.

Octavia St. Laurent Funeral Information

For those of you in the New York metro area, nearby or elsewhere who wish to attend the funeral of Octavia St. Laurent, here's the information courtesy of the Village Voice.

Octavia's viewing will take place starting at 11 AM on Monday, May 25 with burial being on Tuesday, May 26.

Stutzman Funeral Home is handling the arrangements, and is located at 224-39 Jamaica Ave, Queens Village, NY.

If you need further info, the phone number is 718-465-3210 for times or call Linda at 718-347-7740 or Jonathan 347-548-5964

Damn Denny's And 'Errbody' Else, Let My People Pee

Spartanburg, SC based Denny's Inc. is a 1,749-restaurant chain which is one of the largest restaurant companies in the United States.

Back during the 80's Denny's had a corporate 'ethnic cleansing' policy in which managers were under orders not to allow too many Blacks to congregate in their restaurants. I saw firsthand in the 80's the ridiculous extremes that Denny's peeps went to in order to keep their restaurants free of African descended people.

One night when me and my friends went to a Denny's by the Astrodome, they tried to charge us $5 cover just to get in. At another location they tried to make us prepay for food as we watched Whites get seated first without prepaying. Another time at that same Astrodome location me and two Black friends waited for our food while numerous whites who came in after us got in, ordered their food and got out before we saw a single plate hit our table.

The discriminatory culture was so ingrained that on the very day in 1993 a federal court ordered the chain to stop discriminating against Black customers, a Maryland Denny's was sued by Black Secret Service agents for glacially slow service. The class action discrimination lawsuits were eventually settled by Denny's in 1994 for $54 million, but not before a boycott of the chain by African-Americans and countless worldwide retelling of stories similar to mine.

I'm taking this trip down Moni Memory Lane again because those images of past discrimination were on my mind when I heard about the Maine Human Rights Commission case involving Brianna Freeman.

The commission ruled on Monday that an Augusta, ME Denny's franchisee store was guilty of discrimination when it barred Ms. Freeman, a regular customer of the restaurant, from using the women's restroom until she had surgery.

Okay, I and the rest of the transgender community are beyond sick and tired of this bull feces 'bathroom predator' meme the Forces of Intolerance and other ignorant folks who hate on transpeople are pimping these days because they have no logic based argument they can us to deny transgender people their civil rights.

The anti-civil rights peeps have dipped into their old school playbook and recycled the centuries old tactics of deception, fear and lies over the bathroom. The same arguments being used to stir up anti-transgender bathroom passions are the same ones the haters used to justify separate 'white' and 'colored' bathrooms back in the bad old Jim Crow days.

Bottom line, you already share public bathrooms with transpeople and have done so without incident for decades.

I can't tell you how many times at concerts and ball games I saw ciswomen pop into the men's restroom before transition to use it because the lines in the women's restrooms were too long.

The first thing on the minds of many transpeople when we enter a public bathroom is how fast can we shimmy out of our clothes before the pee stream starts, and when we've handled our business washing hands and getting out of there.

We ain't trying to start any static, but too many haters are trying to start World War III with us over peeing in a damn restroom. I transitioned 15 years years ago and I'm not going to a men's room where I risk a beatdown or worse because your faith-based ignorance about transgender people makes you uncomfortable.

Deal with it.

In some cases cisgender women are getting caught in the crossfire because of your idiocy.

And let's smack down some more right wing lies while I'm at it. If a predator wants to heaven forbid, sexually assault you in the bathroom, they won't be crossdressed to do it.

As far as the 'pervert' charge, you've got more to worry about from your local priest, 'christian' pastor or straight white males, who commit 98% of the molestation cases against children than you do with your friendly neighborhood transperson.

So to all the haters out there, let my people pee!

Transpinay Rising

A transpinay is a transwoman of Filipina descent, whether born inside or outside the Philippines. The Manila based organization that has been a strong and vocal advocate for the rights of transpinays is called STRAP, the Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines.

STRAP is celebrating its 4th anniversary as an organization and one of its members, Pau Fontanos edits the PinayTG blog. It not only keeps up with events in her life, but gives you a window on what's happening as our transpinay sisters struggle to attain their civil rights in the Philippines.

This is a tribute video on STRAP's website. It reminds us (and our detractors) that we are everywhere, we are not alone or unique to certain parts of our planet. We are beautiful, talented, and intelligent women, and no matter where we live, all transpeople share the same sets of issues and drama, although at different levels.

It's also a reminder that the struggle for acceptance, love and codified civil rights coverage for transpeople around the world is an ongoing one.



Happy anniversary STRAP! May your journey toward justice be a successful one.

Shut Up Fool! Awards-Post Mr. T Birthday Edition

I pity the fools who didn't celebrate Mr. T's birthday. Our awards mascot turned 57 yesterday

It's Friday, and that means it's time for another episode of the 'Shut Up Fool! awards. As the birthday boy stated, 'fools are everywhere' and we take the time to find them and shine a bright spotlight on them.

So it's time to cut out the jibber jabber and see what person (or persons) gets the honor of being the fool of the week.

For his virtuoso performance last week on the Notre Dame campus, I just have to give it up to perennial sellout negro Alan Keyes. He's also in the running for a Shut Up Fool! Lifetime Achievement Award.

When he couldn't get elected to dog catcher in Maryland, much less to any public office in the state he carpetbagged his way to Chicago for the IL US senate election versus the future prez.

He got his butt kicked by a 3-1 margin with Obama piling up 3 million votes despite being outspent 2-1 by Keyes. It was a US senate campaign in which Keyes called him a "radical communist" and said a vote for Obama was a "vote for Satan."

So yeah, there's no love lost between the two.

He's also one of the conservawackos who is still in GOP Fantasy Land questioning the prez's US citizenship, and last week he accused the prez of 'prostituting' Notre Dame



I have zero respect for a sellout and hypocrite whose 'family values' drove him to kick his own daughter out of his house and cut off funding for her college education when Maya Keyes publicly declared she was a lesbian.

Sounds like the accusation you spat at President Obama about 'Rejecting God's fundamental law of love. . ." applies more to you.

President Obama is a light years better man than you ever will be.

Alan Keyes, shut up fool!

'Comedian' Jay Mohr Disses The First Lady

During a recent interview with ESPN's Jim Rome, comedian Jay Mohr tastelessly slammed First Lady Michelle Obama’s looks. And since she's 5'11", guess where he went to do it?



"Michelle Obama - that is a big dude. When Barack plays pick up games at the White House, you know he picks Michelle as his forward, maybe his [center] depending on who’s in Congress that day."

"That has to be like being married to Elton Brand. She is a big dude. I like when she put her arm around the Queen of England and she put her in a headlock and said, “I’ve been waiting 200 years to put my arms around you lady.”

"I like how she shaved off her eyebrows, and then drew them back way too high and in an arch, and then way back down, so she always looks super surprised. Michelle Obama kind of looks like the Count on Sesame Street. One - ah ah - One Black President - ah ah."

Here we go again with that tired 'it's a man' meme automatically hurled at any woman above 5'7" tall. And where is the feminist movement who zealously defended Sen. Clinton and Sarah Palin last year when they were hammered by what they considered sexist attacks?

As usual, when it's a Black woman being attacked, their silence is deafening.

Maine Human Rights Commission Rules In Favor Of Transwoman

All transwoman Brianna Freeman of Lewiston, ME wanted to do on October 25, 2007 was use the restroom.

While at a Denny's in Auburn, ME Ms. Freeman used a locked stall in the ladies restroom while “dressed clearly” as a woman, according to the investigator’s report.

Another customer complained to the manager about sharing a public restroom with a 'man'. “The customer was very upset, was irate, had threatened to call police,” according to attorney Chad Cloutier, who represents the Rockport company Realty Resources Hospitality LLC. who owns and operates six Denny’s family restaurants, including the one involved in the discrimination case.

“A few days later, management decided that it would be in the best interest of Denny’s to ask the customer to use the men’s room until sex reassignment surgery.”

Freeman then filed a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission on April 17, 2008 after being banned from the ladies room.

On May 18 the Maine Human Rights Commission on a 3-2 decision that Freeman was discriminated against when management would not let her use the ladies room until she had sex reassignment surgery.

Cloutier asserted the decision could have far-reaching, negative consequences for all Maine businesses with shared restroom facilities. His assessment was not shared by the Maine Civil Liberties Union and Equality Maine, who hailed it as a civil rights victory.

“It’s important to know that people have rights, including transgender [people], and that businesses are not free to discriminate,” said Zachary Heiden, the legal director of the MCLU.

Heiden said that many people make the faulty assumption that being transgender is mostly about genitals.

“That’s a part of it, but the essence of who they are is not what their genitals look like,” he said.

Cloutier argued to the commission that a discrimination decision would require that Maine businesses essentially decide whether a person is transgender or if they might want to use a particular restroom or locker room for purposes of “sexual perversion.” Making this accommodation is a violation of a woman’s right to privacy, he said in a press release, as well as a “significant risk to the health and safety of [the restaurant’s] customers, particularly children.”

Yeah, right. Sell that lie somewhere else.

“It’s almost an untenable position for businesses. It really is a slippery slope. This claimant may be perfectly safe and use the bathroom in a perfectly normal way, but what’s to prevent a person of some devious intent ... the right not to share a bathroom?”

Betsy Smith, executive director of Equality Maine, strongly disagreed.

“How does it pose a risk to children that someone uses the bathroom? That assumes that that person somehow harms children,” she said. “It’s so outrageously discriminatory.”

Smith said that forcing a transgender woman to use a men’s room is not safe.

“This company needs diversity training to understand what it means to be gender-nonconforming,” she said.

Kevin LaBree, the vice president and director of operations for Realty Resources Hospitality, said that he was just concerned about the comfort and care of his guests.

“Denny’s is a family restaurant chain,” he said. “I am going to do what’s in the best interest of my customers.”

Mr. LaBree, what's in the best interests of your customers and your financial bottom line is not allowing discrimination against anyone, including transgender people.

And judging by the level of ignorance and transhatred in the comment threads on this case in Abigail Curtis' Bangor Daily News story on the hearing, there's a lot of people in Maine and beyond who need to be 'ejumacated' on that simple point as well.

10 Worst Countries To Be A Blogger

The Internet and especially the blogosphere have become invaluable for the dissemination of information to the chagrin of political spinmeisters, the powers that be and repressive regimes trying to restrict the free flow of information.

With increasing internet penetration in the rest of the world blogging cultures have exploded in Asia and the Middle East. Unfortunately, as the Committee to Protect Journalists will tell you, the repressive governments in the region are moving just as quickly to stifle the information revolution before it gets started.

The CPJ just published their list of the 10 Worst Countries to Be a Blogger. Click on the link to discover why they made the list.

1. Burma
2. Iran
3. Syria
4. Cuba
5. Saudi Arabia
6. Vietnam
7. Tunisia
8. China
9. Turkmenistan
10. Egypt


The CPJ determined this dishonor list by compiling a series of questions compiled by Internet experts to assess blogging conditions worldwide.

* Does a country jail bloggers?
* Do bloggers face harassment, cyber-attacks, threats, assaults, or other reprisals?
* Do bloggers self-censor to protect themselves?
* Does the government limit connectivity or restrict access to the Internet?
* Are bloggers required to register with the government or an ISP and give a verifiable name and address before blogging?
* Does a country have regulations or laws that can be used to censor bloggers?
* Does the government monitor citizens who use the Internet?
* Does the government use filtering technology to block or censor the Internet?

These criteria were used by CPJ regional experts to nominate countries for this list. The final ranking was determined by a poll of CPJ staff and outside experts.

MP Siksay Tries Again To Get Canadian Transgender Bill Passed

The conventional wisdom says that the third time you try anything is usually the charm. New Democratic Party MP Bill Siksay (Burnaby-Douglas) is hopeful that the saying is true.

Siksay, the NDP critic for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Issues, introduced a bill May 15 in the House of Commons that addresses the lack of explicit protection for transsexual and transgender people in provisions of the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code of Canada.

“I believe that enshrining explicit protections for transgender and transsexual people in our human rights legislation and our Criminal Code will go a long way towards full equality and acceptance for transgender and transsexuals people."

"Finally, we will be recognized in the eyes of the law as full persons -- the full persons we always were." said Érica Poirier, president of the Coalition des transsexuelles et transsexuels du Québec.

His private member's bill is titled An Act to Amend the Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code (Gender Identity and Gender Expression) in the House of Commons. It passed first reading on May 17.

MP Siksay's Bill C-389 will "add protection for members of the transsexual and transgendered communities to the Canadian Human Rights Act, by adding gender identity and gender expression as prohibited grounds for discrimination in the Act. The bill also adds gender identity and gender expression into the Criminal Code so that it can be taken into consideration at the time of sentencing for hate crimes."

His previous attempt to pass it died when Parliament was prorogued or dissolved prior to the 2008 Canadian elections. Private member's bills in Parliament are drawn through a lottery system, with Siksay's bill being 65th in line for private members' business.

That means for those of us reading this south of the border, if Parliament survives until the fall, the bill could come up for debate in the House of Commons.

"It's a stretch to get it all the way through the House and the Senate in a minority Parliament, and that's generally a stretch anyway for most private members' legislation. "I'm hopeful that we'll at least have a chance to debate it in the House this time around."

Siksay hopes that the ENDA and hate crimes legislation currently being discussed in the United States Congress spurs momentum in Canada toward passing this bill.

"What's important is when you talk to members of the trans community, it's not long in the conversation that you hear about overt acts of discrimination and prejudice that they suffer," says Siksay. "Members of the trans community will tell you that they feel like it's acceptable for people to spit on them on the street, and that's a kind of overt hostility, overt discrimination, overt oppression that we don't tolerate in Canadian society."

He also hopes that the changes under Bill C-389 ensure that the Canadian Human Rights Commission has an explicit mandate to do education work around discrimination against trans people, and to raise awareness in Canadian society.

"For merely challenging society's expectations of what is expected of males and females, transgender individuals are often misunderstood and subject to fear and discrimination. Transgender and gender-variant individuals suffer disproportionately higher rates of discrimination, unemployment, denial of services, addictions, infectious disease, depression and suicide. Transpersons are too frequently the victims of verbal and physical attacks that can occur at any time and place, including the workplace. This Bill will contribute to addressing this discrimination." said Victoria Stuart, Chair, Trans Alliance Society

Siksay adds that there is currently protection under existing laws for Canadian trans people, but it is not explicit.

"I don't want anyone to think that there isn't protection for trans people already in Canada — it's indirect through gender and through disability," Siksay says. "That's not the appropriate place — the appropriate place should be explicitly on the basis of gender identity and expression, and that's what this bill will do."

Here's hoping that the third time for our Canadian transgender cousins is indeed the charm and Bill C-389 successfully passes.

Mr. T Birthday Video

Mr. T is the inspiration for my Shut Up Fool! Awards, and I couldn't let today pass without giving my favorite tough guy a birthday shout out.

So in honor of it I'm cutting out the jibber jabber and putting some YouTube video of Mr. T on this post.







I pity the fool who isn't singing Happy Birthday in his honor.

Coccinelle

Since I mentioned Coccinelle in a previous post, I thought it was only fair that you get to know who Jacqueline-Charlotte Dufresnoy was.

She was born in Paris on August 23, 1931. Her petite 5'3" frame and slight build led to many people questioning her gender identity. She was also aware of her gender issues at age 4 and began taking hormones in 1952.

A year later she made her debut as a transgender showgirl at Chez Madame Arthur where her mother worked selling flowers. She took the stage name Coccinelle (French for ladybug) as the show at Chez Madame Arthur became popular among Parisians and fascination about her metamorphosis grew.

She dyed her brunette hair blonde and later joined transgender showgirls April Ashley of Great Britain and Amanda Lear as a regular at the famed Le Carrousel de Paris nightclub as her popularity continued to increase.

Coccinelle usually arrived on stage wearing scarlet lipstick and wearing one of a number of outrageous mink coats dyed in different colors.

She'd already had rhinoplasty to further feminize her features, and in 1958 she traveled to Morocco and became the first European transwoman to undergo vaginoplasty by pioneering Casablanca based SRS surgeon Dr. Georges Burou.

When she returned to France, she became a media sensation like Christine Jorgenson several years before. She then remixed her look and her stage act to match the prominent sex symbols of that time period, Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot.

In addition to her new sexy image, she became appearing in various movies such as 1959's Europa di notte by director Alessandro Blasetti. More films followed, and she became the first French transwoman to become a major star in 1963 when she starred in a revue entitled 'Cherchez la femme' at the famed Paris Olympic Theater.

Coccinelle was a trailblazer and an iconic figure to transpeople who grew up in the 50's and 60's. After her operation France modified its laws to allow details on birth certificates to be amended following SRS, and she duly changed her name to Jacqueline-Charlotte from Jacques-Charles.

She also worked extensively as an activist on behalf of French transgender people, founding the organization Devenir Femme (To Become Woman). Devenir Femme was designed to provide emotional and practical support for persons seeking sex reassignment surgery. She also helped establish the Center for Aid, Research, and Information for Transsexuality and Gender Identity as well.



She was married three times, and her first marriage to sports journalist Francis Bonnet in 1960 not only was the first transsexual union to be officially acknowledged by the nation of France, she booked Notre Dame Cathedral for the ceremony. It also established transgendered persons' legal right in France to marry.

Coccinelle toured the world for 25 years, and was a big hit in South America. Bob Hope was impressed by her show and offered her a tempting financial package to perform with his troupe, but she declined it. She even performed in front of the Shah of Iran and for 10 years appeared in a German cabaret run by Romy Haag. Her autobiography, Coccinelle by Coccinelle, was published in 1987 with her last public performance being done in 1990.

She later moved to Marseilles and ran her own cabaret there from 2002-2005 before being hospitalized in July 2006 following a stroke. She died on October 9, 2006 at age 75.

At her funeral, held at the Eglise Saint-Roch de Paris, Father Philippe Desgens reminded mourners: "All the children of God have a place in the Church", and noted that "by her marriage in church after her operation, and during her whole life, Coccinelle showed her faith."

Coccinelle is another of our iconic transwomen who will never be forgotten, and blazed a path that future French transwomen would follow.

Transkid In Omaha, NE Begins Living Her Life

As much as I loved growing up in the 60's and 70's, I would have loved even more to have been given an opportunity to grow up as a female during my school years.

I think about that every time I see the stories of the brave parents of transgender kids who allow them to transition early in life so that when they get to adulthood won't have as much baggage to carry into it.

I've been following the story about the Omaha, NE parents who are allowing their 8 year old child Kate to begin living full time as a girl in the fall.



“It was not a decision that was made rashly at all. It was a decision to protect her psyche and her self-esteem,” the mother said. “She’s been a girl since the beginning, everything about her, the way she dances and skips around and the things she’s attracted to. It’s more than toys and clothes.”

The mother said Kate has consistently asked to be called a girl since she was 4 years old and even said something that's all to familiar to many of us in the transgender community, what we call the 'Transgender Child's Prayer'.

“One night, she said ‘Every night when I go to bed, I pray my inside will match my outside. But it never happens,'" the mother said, recalling the words of her middle child.

Kate said about her situation, “It’s kind of like you’re trapped somewhere and you can’t get out.”

Here's where the anti-transgender chickens that Dr. Paul McHugh spread at the Vatican have roosted in someone's life. The mother is a lifelong Catholic and wanted to continue her child's education at a local Catholic school, but the archdiocese of Omaha, following the transhating policies of the Roman Catholic Church, refused to allow Kate to begin third grade as a female.

So Kate will begin third grade not in the school she's been at since kindergarten, but in a public school this fall.

When her mother announced that Kate would be allowed to pierce her ears next week, the girl screeched and had a huge smile on her face.

“You’ve waited long enough to live as a girl,” the mother said.

Kate's mother is on a mission to educate the community and encourage churches to open a dialog about diversity and acceptance of all people.

“Just take the time to listen. It is different. It’s something most people have never heard of, but it doesn’t make it scary or pathological,” she said.

Hello Catholic Church, Religious Reich, and transhaters, are you listening?

Octavia St Laurent Clips

Octavia may be gone from us, but she'll never be forgotten. It's also a given that the ballroom competition in Heaven just got a little more fierce.

Rest in peace, sis.

RIP Octavia St. Laurent

The Paris Is Burning movie came out as I was early into my own transition. One of the people I was captivated by and resolved to meet one day was Octavia St. Laurent.

The closest I've come to making that happen was when the funeral for Amanda Milan happened in 2000 and at the last minute I couldn't get the time off to go.

I wish I had. She gave a moving and fiery eulogy for Amanda that day on which she said, "Gays have rights, lesbians have rights, men have rights, women have rights, even animals have rights. "How many of us have to die before the community recognizes that we are not expendable?"

Sadly, that's not going to happen.

I just received the word that Octavia St. Laurent passed away May 17. Still trying to get the who, what, when, where, why and how details, and will pass them on to you as I find out.

In the interim, check out this video from Paris Is Burning.



Rest In Peace sis.

A Different World Theme Songs-Video

Since I'm still impatiently waiting for Carsey-Werner, Ventura, Viacom or whoever owns the rights to A Different World to stop stalling and release Seasons 2-6 of the show on DVD, thought I'd get the video of the three versions of the theme songs played during the six season run of the series and post them.

Season 1, composed by Dawnn Lewis sung by Phoebe Snow.



The Queen of Soul Version of the song.



The Boys 2 Men version




The excuse for not releasing the DVDs is the false assumption that A Different World doesn't have a fanbase. They came to that conclusion based on the sales of the Season 1 DVD. Hello, Season 1 sucked, seasons 2-6 didn't after it began to reflect the reality of HBCU student life.

As a bonus for you ADW lovers, I'm posting the video from the 'Homie Don't You Know Me' episode with the late Tupac Shakur in it. (damn I miss Tupac)

Transsexuality Declassified As Mental Illness In France

Conservatives may sneer at and hate on France, but the rest of us and especially the transgender community around the world have much love for the nation.

One of the world's famous early transwomen in Coccinelle was born and lived there until her death in October 2006.

As an actress and activist who pushed for changes in French law favoring transgender people, Coccinelle would have been thrilled to see French Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot announce through a spokesperson on Saturday that France would no longer classify transsexuality as a mental illness.

The announcement came on the eve of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO).

Until now, transsexuals benefited from a state subsidy reserved for chronic illness - “recurring or persistent problems.”

The classification was linked to the fact that a leading medical journal, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, referred to both homosexuality and transsexuality as disorders.

The French organization Homosexuals and Socialism (HES) has applauded the move, calling it “a long-overdue vindication.”

Now if we could only get the committee now meeting to come up with a new DSM-V in 2012 to follow France's lead.

It's Hell To Be Transgender-Especially In Honduras

Houston's late crusading consumer affairs reporter Marvin Zindler used to say during his news segments when he chewed on the behinds of local organizations, agencies, politicians and people that failed to do their jobs in helping less fortunate citizens, "It's hell to be poor."

I'm going to paraphrase Marvin and say, in some parts of the world, it's hell to be transgender.

I stumbled across some photos of a recent protest by transgender people in Honduras that took place May 15 in advance of the May 17 International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. Anyone who has checked out the Remembering Our Dead list lately can tell you there are more than a few Honduran transwomen memorialized on that list.

But since October 2008 violent attacks directed against Honduran transwomen has escalated. No doubt one of the factors feeding into these attacks are the anti-transgender rhetoric emanating from the Catholic Church and a burgeoning evangelical Christian movement in Honduras.

Between November and December 2008 five attacks targeting transwomen occurred, with two of them being fatal. On November 20 a transwoman named Yasmin was killed by an attacker. The next day (November 21) Bibi was shot, and on December 17 another named Noelia was stabbed 14 times.

On December 20 two transgender activists doing HIV/AIDS outreach work in Honduras' capital of Tegucigalpa were savagely attacked. That same day (December 20) another transwoman was assaulted by Honduran police and threatened with death if she reported the crime. She bravely reported the assault to Amnesty International.

But the New Year did not stop the vicious assault on the Honduran transgender community.

The January 9 early morning hours drive-by shooting of prominent Honduran transgender activist Cynthia Nicole Moreno stunned and galvanized the community into action. Moreno was fatally shot three times in the chest and once in the head in the town of Comayaguela.

The 32 year old Moreno was a widely known Honduran transgender rights leader who worked as a spokesperson for the transgender rights organization Colectivo Violeta. She provided information about HIV/AIDS and human rights, and often represented the community in the media.

"The transgender community is terrified," said Indyra Mendoza, director of the Honduran lesbian and feminist organization Cattrachas. "But these attacks will not silence the community in Honduras, and we will continue to work to ensure that the rights of transgender people are recognized and protected."

Cynthia Nicole would have been proud to see the transgender community stand up on May 15 and protest near the Presidential Palace for their human rights.

But as I've said multiple times, transgender rights are a worldwide issue. What happens in my part of the world affects yours as well. What's happening in Honduras is OUR problem, too.

The international community needs to do as much as it can to get the story out there, put pressure on the Honduran government to solve the crimes and bring the perpetrators to justice and give the local organizations the help they need.

It will take a concerted effort by all of us to help put an end to the suffering our transsisters are going through in Honduras.

Kim Fields

Another installment in my ongoing series of articles on transgender and non-transgender women who have qualities that I admire.

Kim Fields just celebrated her Big 4-0 birthday May 12, and I've loved watching her in whatever acting project ever since her Facts of Life days. The NAACP Image Award winning actress and director is a talented singer, writer and spoken word poet as well.



When that show ended I wondered what happened to her. Kim earned a communications and film degree from Malibu's Pepperdine University in 1990, and not long after that popped up on our TV screens as the divalicious Regine Hunter on Living Single.

Kim's been in the spotlight since she appeared on Sesame Street when she was five. She filmed commercials, most notably one for Mrs. Butterworth's syrup back in the day combined with 1978 guest appearances on Good Times. She also recently became a mother on my birthday in 2007 and sorry fellas, is happily married again.

There's a lot to admire about this talented and politically active lady, and may she continue to have much success in her career.

Next Year Mr. President, Do A Commencement Speech At An HBCU

TransGriot Note: My latest piece for Global Comment

If I could give any piece of advice to President Obama besides the obvious ones for any transperson lucky enough to get some face time with him would, it would be this:

Next year, give a commencement speech at an HBCU, which stands for Historically Black College and University.

Arizona State University invited him to speak at their May 14 commencement ceremony. It was the first commencement speech he has delivered since becoming president January 20. How does ASU thank him for that historical footnote and the increased media attention their commencement ceremony garnered from the media? By declining to give him an honorary degree.


ASU spokeswoman Sharon Keeler stated, "His body of work is yet to come. That's why we're not recognizing him with a degree at the beginning of his presidency."

Um, you gave former Canadian prime minister Kim Campbell one and she only served 143 days before she was ousted from office by Canadian voters.

Don't you think the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, the fourth elected African-American US senator, author of two best selling books and the first African-American president of the US rates one?

I, along with many other people see this as disrespect. Much of the Arizona State alumni base agrees with me as well, and they ain't happy about the presidential dissing either.

To President Obama's credit, he joked about the controversy, then flipped the script and used it as a talking point in his commencement speech.



Conservatives and conservative Catholics have their panties in knots because of the commencement speech President Obama is delivering at Notre Dame University. The invitation and the upcoming May 17 speech has also stirred controversy with right wing Catholics and some Notre Dame students who protested the invitation because his stances on abortion rights and stem-cell research don't jibe with the Roman Catholic Church's stance.

Read the rest at Global Comment

It's On On Guam

Jeremy, the transgender high school student who was barred from attending his George Washington High School prom because he wore a dress, submitted a letter of complaint to the Office of the Superintendent and the legal counsel of the Guam Public School System.

Superintendent Dr. Nerissa Bretania-Shafer says she will be conducting her own investigation on the matter. She states that she wants to ensure "Jeremy's" rights were not violated, telling KUAM-TV News, "At this point, we want to respect the right of any student to issue a complaint and register a complaint. Once that's done, we need to let the investigation take its place."

Dr. Bretania-Shafer says this is the first time she's heard of the issue and she anticipates the investigation into what happened will be completed in the next two weeks.

Meanwhile, some of Jeremy's classmates are weighing in on the incident.

According to Michele Catahay's KUAM-TV report several freshmen stated it shouldn't matter what an individual wears to the prom, as long as it's tasteful. One female student said, "They should be what they want - it's their decision, it's their choice. They can be who they want to be." And a fellow male classmate said such should be allowed, "as long as it's not vulgar."

And as I pointed out in the guidelines drawn up by the prom committee, it does not have a prohibition against cross gender clothing.




Speaker of the Guam Youth Congress Derick Hills says what happened to Jeremy is absolutely intolerable and shouldn't have happened.

"I feel more saddened about the student. This was a once in a lifetime event for him and when he went to prom, he went there expressing his views and his passion of what he felt. And I think the school should've acted more accordingly and let the student into the prom event."

Yes, they should have. That denial of entry into the prom may be a costly one for the Guam Public School System as well.

TransGriot Note: Jeremy hasn't clarified as of yet whether he is transitioning or gay, so I left the male pronouns intact until advised otherwise.

New Star Trek-Wow!

Just arrived back home from my local multiplex from watching the rebooted JJ Abrams directed Star Trek movie, and all I have to say is-wow!

I'm a Trekkie that watched the original series, Next Generation, DS9, Voyager and even Enterprise. I loved how this movie reintroduced us to all the characters we know and love and how the new actors stayed true to the original portrayals but put their own spin on them in some cases.

It even managed to surprise me with a well known producer-director playing a Starfleet admiral, but I won't spoil the surprise if you haven't seen the movie yet.

Here's the trailer for it, enjoy.



The best news is that the entire cast of the rebooted movie have been signed up to do two more pictures, and after watching this one can't wait to see what they come up with next.

Girl Power! Rachel Alexandra Wins Preakness

Rachel Alexandra blew out her feminine competition by 20 lengths in the May 1 Kentucky Oaks. She was obviously the class of the 3 year old fillies, and her new owner plunked down $100,000 to enter her in the Preakness Stakes to see if she could run with the big boys.

No sweat. Rachel Alexandra not only raced with the boys, she beat them.

Rachel Alexandra became the first filly to win the Preakness Stakes in 85 years as she won her sixth straight race and held off late charging Derby winner Mine That Bird to win by a length.

She comes back to Da Ville to rest and train for the June 6 Belmont Stakes and another rematch with Mine That Bird. She's bidding to become the first filly since 2007 to win the Belmont, the third leg of the Triple Crown.

President Obama Giving Commencement Speech At Notre Dame

Later today President Obama is giving a commencement speech at Notre Dame University in which unlike the May 14 one at Arizona State University, he'll at least be getting an honorary degree for his trouble.

Here's the video of the Arizona State University commencement speech.

The 2009 Miss Tiffany Universe Winner Is...

Sorawee Nattee

She takes home the grand prizes and cash from what has become the most prestigious transgender beauty pageant on the planet. The Thais take their beauty pageants seriously, and the 12th annual Miss Tiffany Universe was broadcast live on Thai television.

She also won another 20,000 baht for winning the Best Costume category.

She will now along with last year's winner take on the world's best beauties (or at least the ones who will show up) in the Miss International Queen pageant later this year at the Tiffany's Cabaret Theater in Pattaya.


H/T Sunny at Happi Like A Hippo

Transphobia At The Hippodrome

I was shaking my head as I read this story from Yarmouth, England about a threatened walkout by female Hippodrome employees.

What's got them ticked off enough to walk out from their jobs?

Is it better wages? A protest against rampant sexism? Their working conditions?

Nope, they demanded to be allowed to wear “I am not a lady boy” T-shirts to prove to showgoers that they are all woman or else they were walking because of the upcoming performance of the Lady Boys of Bangkok traveling cabaret May 27-28.

Excuse me?

Hippodrome staffer Ruth Patterson (left in first picture) organized the protest after she heard about the show opening in Brighton. Allegedly a number of women staffers were asked if they were real women. “The Lady Boys may be very, very attractive but I don't want people to confuse me for one of them.

“I certainly don't want people in Yarmouth asking me if I'm a Lady Boy - although I am jealous of their fabulous figures.”

“Because it is a cabaret being performed in a real party atmosphere, some people just get carried away with the whole thing.”

With its tag line of “You'll never look at the opposite sex the same way again”, The Lady Boys of Bangkok cabaret show blends fun and music. The 16 member troupe of performers covers a wide range of styles from the disco floor to the Broadway musical stage. It also features tributes to musical artists such as Katy Perry, Whitney Houston, Girls Aloud and Kylie Minogue.

Hippodrome Owner Peter Jay agreed to let the ciswomen employees wear buttons stating they were 100% woman.

Can you say the words 'transphobia' and 'cisgender privilege' boys and girls? Thought you could.

Peter Jay wasn't much better than Ruth Patterson when he made these comments to the British media in relation to this story. While noting there had never been an incident like this in the Hippodrome's 108 year history, he stated, "You could say it has been a storm in a D cup but it has all blown over now. Maybe my girls can share make-up tips with the Lady Boys before or after the shows.

Yeah right, I think it would be the other way around, Mr. Jay.

Ms. Patterson, you need to take remedial science classes. You're only 50% woman, to put it bluntly since half of your genetic material comes from daddy.

And stop slurping the hateraid from the three liter bottles because your transphobia is showing.

It's Janet's Birthday

Janet Jackson that is. Happy birthday to the Grammy winning baby sister of the Jackson clan. She was born on this date in Gary, IN.









Here's hoping that Janet's next album is produced by Jam and Lewis.

Under Construction

I get in deep thought mode when I'm not at the wheel on these long road trips me and my cohorts frequently embark upon.

When me and Polar were south of Morgantown, WV we passed through a construction zone on I-79 as we zipped south toward Charleston. When my turn at the wheel was done, I thought about the orange signs announcing the presence of the construction zone and thought about it in another context.

A highway is always a work in progress. It takes maintenance to keep it in travel worthy shape. Over time they get improved, get rebuilt, repaved or reconstructed.

Like our highways, trans people also are never finished products, but are works in progress. We are always looking to perfect our gender presentations, improve things about ourselves either through surgical or other means, or striving to be better specimens of human beings to paraphrase the title of transwoman Sharon Davis' book.

In a sense, we are always under construction as well. You work toward and hope for continued positive evolution as you enter two, five, ten, twenty or however many years its been since the easy part of the body morphing started. What you hope for is that when it's all said and done, you end up being a better person today than when you first started down the transition highway.

Shut Up Fool! Awards-Beat LA Edition

My H-town ballers are headed to LA to play Game 7 in their series versus the Lakers thanks to 26 points from Aaron Brooks and 24 from Luis Scola.

It's Clutch City 2k9 version. The question is which Los Angeles b-ball team wearing the purple and gold uniforms will show up Sunday? I'm hoping it's the LA Fakers that lost 95-80 last night and not the LA Laker one that administered the 40 point beatdown on my Rockets.

Speaking of beatdowns, let's start sorting out who deserves a verbal beatdown for being our Fool of The Week.

As usual, there were so many worthy contenders for this week's award, I chuckle to myself because I was worried when I started this feature I wouldn't have enough fools to do a weekly award.

But as our patron saint for the awards always admonishes us, fools are everywhere.

I'm also considering a Shut Up Fool! of the Month which I'll let you TransGriot readers determine it by popular vote. Let me know what you think about it in this thread.

But back to the 'bidness' at hand.

The most outstanding fool this week is another contender for the Shut up Fool! Lifetime Achievement Award in Rev. Pat Robertson.

He suggested that the '"ultimate conclusion" of legal same-sex marriage is legal polygamy, bestiality, child molestation, pedophilia.



Yeah right. The only thing he ever got right in the whole time he's been broadcasting the 666 Club (oops the 700 Club) was this gem of a comment about transgender peeps from the October 5, 1999 show.

God does not care what your external organs are. The question is whether you are living for God or not. Yes, He loves you. Yes, He forgives you and He understands what is going on in your body.

Pat Robertson, shut up fool!

Beat LA! Beat LA!

Told you my Rockets weren't going to be a pushover for the LA Fakers.

I got my birthday win in Game 1 from my Houston homeboys. When every NBA pundit was predicting the Rockets were done after Yao Ming went down with a foot injury in the Game 3 108-94 loss and took a 40 point La La land beatdown in Game 5, Clutch City 2K9 version came up big in Game 6.

Aaron Brooks and Luis Scola combined for 50 points as my Rockets beat the Lakers 95-80 in Toyota Center to force a decisive Game 7 on Sunday in Los Angeles.

The Rockets have lost Tracy McGrady during the season, Dikembe Mutombo in the Portland series and Yao Ming in this one and still they rise. Winner gets the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Western Conference Finals.

Beat LA! Beat LA! Beat LA!

Supreme WMP

I've been chuckling over the whining coming from conservative white male pundits about the leading candidates being considered by President Obama for the soon to be vacant Supreme Court seat of Justice David Souter. The grousing from them has centered on the meme that he's not considering white men for the position.

Let me give you some cheese to go with that whine while I point out just how ludicrous this latest conservarant is.

Since the founding of the United States, there have been 118 people who have served as Supreme Court justices. Out of the 17 Supreme Court chief justices, all 17 have been white males.

In terms of the 118 past and present supreme court justices, only two, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sandra Day O'Connor have been women. Only two have been non-white,
African-Americans Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas*.

Clarence gets an asterisk because his status as a Black man is questionable and his Black Like Me card has been suspended.

That means the 114 remaining people who have or currently sit on the Supreme Court have been white males. In the current composition of the Roberts Court, 7 of the 9 justices are white males, not counting 'honorary white man' Uncle Thomas.

So it's past time for some diversity to reign on the nation's highest court. We not only need a Latino/a justice, we need an Asian justice, a Native American justice and an African-American woman to counteract Uncle Thomas' self-hating bull feces.

So you conservacritics dripping with WMP need to sit down, shut up, go off in the corner somewhere and sulk while you ponder the reality that you lost.

Get over it. You had a 40 year run of implementing mean spirited policies that divided this country and a mad rush to deregulation that has jacked up our financial system and nearly bankrupted us. You got to select several supreme court justices that not only share your ethnic heritage, they care more about corporations than the American people.

Now it's time for progressive ideas, progressive policies and progressive justices to rule the day, clean up the mess y'all made and make this country one we can all be proud of again. It's also past time we had a Supreme Court that reflects the diversity of America as well.

ABC 20/20 Feature on AIS

Contrary to the BS the scientifically ignorant Reichers put out there, humans are a lot more complex than their simplistic line of thinking would have you believe.

Back in August 2008 ABC's 20/20 did a segment on AIS, Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome.

In a nutshell, Androgen insensitivity syndrome is a condition that affects sexual development before birth and during puberty. People with this condition are genetically male, with one X chromosome and one Y chromosome in each cell. Because their bodies are unable to respond to certain male sex hormones (called androgens), they may have mostly female sex characteristics or signs of both male and female sexual development.

Complete androgen insensitivity syndrome occurs when the body cannot use androgens at all. People with this form of the condition have the external sex characteristics of females, but do not have a uterus and therefore do not menstruate and are unable to conceive a child (infertile). They are typically raised as females and have a female gender identity. Affected individuals have male internal sex organs (testes) that are undescended, which means they are abnormally located in the pelvis or abdomen.

Undescended testes can become cancerous later in life if they are not surgically removed. People with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome also have sparse or absent hair in the pubic area and under the arms.

Juju Chang interviewed Eden, and told her story.

Now Manitoba Is Delisting SRS

Renee at Womanist Musings has a post up about the recent decision of the Manitoba provincial government following Alberta's lead in delisting SRS.

While you expect that from a conservative province like Alberta struggling with a budget deficit and using it as an excuse to cut so called 'fat' out of a multi billion dollar provincial healthcare budget, Manitoba has an NDP government which is projecting a C$48 million SURPLUS.

So what's up with that?

If you peeps north and south of the border and beyond wish to RESPECTFULLY express your opinions about it, here's the contact info for Kerri Irvin-Ross, the Minister of Healthy Living for the Province of Manitoba

Kerri Irvin-Ross, Minister of Healthy Living
Phone: 204-945-1373
FAX: 204-948-2703
E-mail: minhliv@leg.gov.mb.ca


H/T Womanist Musings

Moni Goes To Washington-Day 3

Our last day (May 8) in Washington was going to be spent on the senate side. I needed to talk to Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL) in addition to a few other peeps since SR 909, the senate version of the Hate Crimes bill had been introduced and was in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

I like being in DC so the days I have to pack my stuff in preparation for our departure from Washington are always bittersweet ones for me. It was also going to have time pressure because Polar and I had to hit the road and head back to the Bluegrass State and our lives here.

I can also say the DC newscasts are hardly ever boring. The first night we flip on the news we see the dustup over same gender marriage. Last night we watched a strip mall gas explosion caught on a security camera.

But back to your regularly scheduled post.

We arrived at the Dirksen Senate Office Building and after clearing security I checked the electronic info board to make sure we were in the right building for Sen. Burris' office. The app in Polar's iPhone stated that he was in Dirksen, but the board said that he was in the Russell Senate Office Building.

So we had to hoof it to the tunnel and head over to Russell. We arrived at his office a few moments later after I took a photo in the Russell building atrium. He wasn't in and the person who handled those issues was out of the office. We were advised by the person we did talk to at the desk that Sen. Burris was a cosponsor of SR 909 and dropped off the info packet before heading to our next office..

We headed to Sen. Evan Bayh's (D-IN) office and after patiently waiting a few moments were told that the person handling GLBT issues in that office had called in sick hat morning. So once again another packet dropoff without a chat.

We then headed to Sen. Richard Lugar's (R-IN) office in the Hart SOB. You'll note we didn't even bother trying to talk to our own Kentucky senators, Mitch McConnell (R-KY) or Jim Bunning (R-KY) who were in the Russell SOB.

It's been a longstanding congressional tradition that you give constituents who take their precious time to come to DC a few minutes, even if you disagree with them politically. In 2007 I got to see an LA in Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson's (R-TX) office even though I'm on the opposite end of the political galaxy from her.

But in McConnell's and Bunning's cases, if you ain't a foaming at the mouth winger, they won't see you. What I'd like to see is somebody with a 'D' behind their names replacing both of them. We'll get our chance to oust Bunning next year.

We arrived at Sen. Lugar's office and got 15 minutes chat time with one of the aides there. He advised us that the senator has 'small business issues' about ENDA, but dose support SR 909. After thanking the LA for his time, we bounced to the cafeteria for a meeting with the rest of our lobbyist and lunch since it was now approaching 1 PM.

We caught up with 'errbody' in the Dirksen cafeteria and spent an hour eating lunch, exchanging info, notes and stories as I handed off my remaining info packets to Ness and Toni. They were planning to hit a few more offices on both the House and Senate side while we hit the road.

We were already aware of the severe thunderstorms smacking Kentucky along the route we were planning to transit home and briefly considered rerouting further north through Columbus and Indy to get back home.

We decided to take our normal route back to Kentucky and wanted to be transiting West Virginia before dark. Polar still has bad memories about a 2002 DC trip in which a pregnant deer stepped in front of a Grand Am he'd lovingly restored. He and another passenger were on I-79 headed south near Weston, WV on the way back to Louisville and both the car and deer lost.

Batting mid-afternoon traffic on the Capital Beltway torpedoed that plan and we didn't arrive at Morgantown, WV until almost 7:30 PM, so we decided to stop there and eat my birthday dinner before resuming our trip. It also would give the heavy rain a chance to clear the area before we tackled the dreaded nighttime southward leg on I-79 toward Charleston.

We slogged through patches of heavy rain all the way to the Charleston area after getting our grub on. It finally cleared out as we intercepted I-64 west for the remaining five hour run home.

I crawled into bed at 4 AM early Saturday morning tired but hopeful that this time, after eleven years of lobbying efforts, that SR 909 and the impending ENDA bill will finally become the law of the land.

Miss Tiffany Universe 2009 Update

This is Miss Tiffany's Universe pageant week in Pattaya. The competition has been pared down to the 30 Thai transwomen who will compete for the crown and the chance to represent Thailand when the Miss International Queen pageant is held later this year.

The finals will be televised on May 15 at 10:30 PM local time live on Thai television.



So while you're waiting for this year's winner to be announced, here's the 2008 finals and the crowning of Miss Tiffany Universe 2008.

Another Year, Another Student Booted From Their Prom

Ah graduation. Is it me or does it seem as though every year we have a story that blows up in the news about a student being booted from their prom for clothing issues?

Last year it was my teenage Houston homegirl Marche Taylor, who wasn't allowed to enter Madison High's prom at the Sugar Land Marriott hotel by school officials because of her skimpy dress. The heated argument that ensued with school officials ended with Ms. Taylor getting busted and taken away in handcuffs by the Houston po-po's.



I posted two years ago about KK Logan of Gary, IN who was banned from attending the 2006 West High School senior prom by Principal Diane Rouse despite wearing women's apparel during his junior and senior year.

KK with the help of Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit which is now percolating in the federal Northern District Court of Indiana.

Well, it seems as though the peeps of Guam's George Washington High School weren't paying attention to the Logan case because they just banned a student who calls himself 'Jeremy' from attending his senior high school prom in feminine attire. The guidelines created by the school's Prom Committee didn't contain any prohibitions against wearing opposite gender clothing.



"Going to prom is supposed to be like a Cinderella story. And this is no Cinderella story. I said, 'Naw-aw - I don't think so.' I'm not letting this go," promised "Jeremy". Unlike Cinderella, the local senior got booted from the ball...because he showed up in a dress.

"They didn't like the fact that I was in a dress. I was dressed appropriately following the girls code, and I looked on the list of the rules and it didn't say 'no cross-dressing, no transgenders or opposite dressing'. All it said was 'males and females'," he said.

Jeremy added that one teacher questioned whether it was appropriate for him to dress that way, saying, "When I walked in, one of the teachers put me to the side and had the audacity to ask me, 'Are you a male or a female?', and I said, 'What does that matter?' and he said, 'It matters!'"

We have yet to determine whether Jeremy had been dressing in femme attire the entire school year like KK Logan. What we do know according to the KUAM-TV story is that Jeremy hasn't received a refund for his prom ticket and spent $400 for that once in a lifetime night he can never get back.

It's also interesting to note that while Jeremy was being given the third degree by school officials, girls who wore tuxedos were allowed in.

Jeremy's classmates, who were cited as the reason for his denial of entrance to the prom because it would make them 'uncomfortable' made a mockery of that statement in subsequent interviews about the incident.

So stay tuned. Jeremy's case could get ugly before it's resolved.

The Jefferson's Transgender Episode

This episode entitled 'Just A Friend from the fourth season of 'The Jeffersons' was groundbreaking in many respects. It's the first time that an African descended transwoman character was shown on TV who didn't fit the stereotypes we all know and loathe.

It was also broadcast in 1977.





While I didn't care for the part where he tried to pass off Leroy as Edie, for the most part the episode is on point. You also have to remember at the time 'The Jeffersons' was a Top 10 rated show that many African-American homes watched.

So if they weren't aware of the trans issue affecting African descended people, they were after that broadcast.

Speaker In Your House

One of the things I absolutely love is public speaking. I grew up being the MC of various programs at the elementary and junior high school levels, in my church, and as the co-host of a FM radio show so I'm very comfortable around a microphone.

Many of us find ourselves in our advocacy and activist work speaking in front of various crowds, be it a panel discussion on a college campus, a presentation to a group, advocating or giving testimony to legislators or other political decision makers.

Over the last two years, as my profile in the blogosphere has risen, I have increasing numbers of people who like this blog ask me via e-mail if I'm willing to speak at their events, conferences, do interviews, et cetera.

Just so we're clear on that, the answer is yes. Just e-mail me at transgriot@yahoo.com with the dates of your event and we'll work out the details.

I love traveling, and you may end up with the TransGriot speaking in front of your group. If you're thinking about it, I need to know in enough time to coordinate my schedule and I am getting an increasing number of requests from various groups to do so.

I love speaking on college campuses as well as professional groups. So if you're wanting me there or are in the midst of planning a conference, let me know soon.

Congrats Laverne!

Congrats to my sis Laverne Cox, who picked up an outstanding reality show trophy at GLAAD's 20th annual Media Awards last Saturday in Los Angeles.

GLAAD honors individuals and projects in media for fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives. The awards were split into three ceremonies, held in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco in March, April and May, respectively.

Her turn as an outspoken contestant on VH1's "I Want to Work for Diddy" tied with the Logo transgender dating series "Transamerican Love Story" featuring Calpernia Addams for the award presented by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

Once again congrats sis, and I'm looking forward to the day I finally meet you in person.

Sierra Broussard Discrimination Trial In Wisconsin

All 28 year old Sierra Broussard wanted to do was go to a local Appleton, WI club called Park Central, but what she ran into was transphobia and discrimination instead.

The biracial transwoman was denied entrance into the club on June 21, 2008 because in the words of one Park Central employee and in the civil suit she filed last year, if she "used either bathroom it would cause confusion for the other patrons," and that she should go to another club, one that caters to "her kind."

A club manager told The Appleton Post-Crescent last summer that the bars do not discriminate against gays or lesbians, but cannot accommodate Broussard because allowing her to use either the men's or women's restroom is a safety issue.

Excuse me?

In their response to Sierra's lawsuit, Concepts Unlimited Inc., the owner of Park Central, and its owners, Charles A. and Lynn McCarrell, denied that Broussard was denied admission to the club because she is black or transgender.

They admit she was not allowed to use the men's or women's bathrooms because it would cause confusion for their customers.

They also deny the refusal caused her economic losses or mental and emotional distress and embarrassment, and deny that Outagamie County courts are the proper venue and jurisdiction for the lawsuit.

Sierra is living her life full time as a woman, but her name and gender marker on her ID does not match her gender presentation. She also has no plans at the moment to get SRS. But that doesn't mean that peeps can trample all over her civil rights, either.

“A lot of people … are thinking I’m a cross-dresser that wants to be a woman, (that) I’ve got a big Adam’s apple, big muscles and you’d be able to tell,” Broussard said. “No, you can’t.”

Broussard and two others protested outside Park Central in June 2008 to bring awareness to the issue.

“You don’t have to get along with people, but you don’t have to discriminate,” Sierra told the Post-Crescent when she filed the lawsuit.

Outagamie County Circuit Judge Mitch Metropulos has been assigned the case, and has yet to set a start date for it.

Will keep you TransGriot readers apprised of the trial and its result when it begins.

Chicago's Baton Show Lounge 40th Anniversary

The Baton Show Lounge has hosted one of the finest female illusionist shows in Chicago.

In honor of its 40th anniversary, I found and I'm posting some YouTube video that interviews some of the peeps there and takes you behind the scenes at the club.

Moni Goes To Washington-Day 2

The heavy drenching rain ending Day 1 gave way to a beautiful clear, cool and sunny May 6 day in Washington.

After emerging from the Capitol South Metro station Polar and I arrived on the Hill and headed straight to the Longworth HOB cafeteria after dropping off some promised information packets to the offices I'd visited the previous day. I'd finally picked them up during our initial strategy meeting the night before.

My task was simple. I had the mission of hitting as many CBC offices as possible and I was going to have to do it with a rookie lobbyist in tow. Since I knew it was going to be next to impossible for me to cover all 43 offices in the limited amount of time I had, I just decided on the train ride in to hit CBC leadership and whatever offices I passed in the various House Office Buildings along the way.

We arrived in the cafeteria and waited to hook up with Ness and the rest of our party. Since we had two newbies, we decided to take 'errbody' as a group to Rep. Al Green's (D-TX) office to give them an idea of what and how to do it.

On the way there I started my training by explaining to my partner Ro some of the basics. Lobbying is more than just advocating yes or no for a bill and asking for its passage. You have to engage your active and passive listening skills in addition to your powers of observation. You have to build personal relationships. It's calling upon your lifetime accumulated knowledge base. It's having a good working grasp of civics and government and how it works.

Passion and idealism is fine and an excellent starting point, but it must be balanced with discerning 'the art of the politically possible'.

If you're planning on lobbying Congress or any governmental body on behalf of this community, one thing that must end is your detachment to politics or the news. You cannot be willfully politically ignorant and be an effective lobbyist.

Watching CNN, C-SPAN, MSNBC, FOX (to know what The Enemy is up to) The Hill newspaper/website is a must and reading various newspapers becomes necessary as well.

You must also acquire a broad based knowledge as to what's transpiring in the transgender community so that you can converse intelligently and authoritatively about it. You never know if you'll be called on in an office or to give bill testimony about a hate crime that happened in California, a discrimination case that occurred in Texas, a police beatdown in Tennessee or an ID case in Illinois.

We arrived at the office a few moments later in the Rayburn building. One thing I also noted is that the CBC members, now reflecting the increased clout of seniority and the important leadership roles many have in the 110th Congress aren't clustered in the Cannon HOB. They now have offices in the Rayburn and Longworth buildings where the House power players are.

While Ness was talking to the LA in Rep. Green's office, I poked my head in to see his Chief of Staff Jacqueline Ellis. The last time I was there in 2007 she was catching hell on the phone from a local minister who was expressing in not so Christian terms his opposition to the hate crimes bill. We had a wonderful conversation in the aftermath of that.

When I poked my head in, I said to her "I see you aren't getting screamed at on the phone today." She looked up, saw my smiling face and gave me a big hug as we talked for a few minutes about the office move.

I stopped in Rep. Bobby Scott's (D-VA) office, and had wonderful conversations in Rep. Keith Ellison's (D-MN) and Rep. Gwen Moore's (D-WI) offices. I advised Rep. Moore's LA about the Sierra Broussard discrimination lawsuit that's about to kick off in Appleton, WI. I also asked them to convey my appreciation for their hate crime votes and hoped they would do the same for ENDA.

I ended up cutting my day short because my partner had finals to study for. After dropping off some promised information packets in a few offices I'd visited the previous day, it was off to the Capitol South Metro station and dinner at a Fuddruckers near our hotel. I haven't eaten at one since I moved from Houston and I was eagerly awaiting to opportunity to chow down there once again.

Two days down, one to go.

Wanda Sykes Whacking Wingers

I watched it live Saturday on C-SPAN the White House Correspondents Dinner and not only enjoyed the president poking fun at himself, but loved Wanda skewering the right-wingers.



The remarks of President Obama



They were sipping Republican Red Hateraid Sunday morning on Faux News, right wing talk shows and some of the talking head shows. It's also going to be fun to see how much airtime Rush Limbaugh kills today spewing hateraid at Wanda and the prez for making fun of him.

Waah. The right-wingers can't take a joke because they are walking comedy routines and punch lines.

Keep on speaking truth to power Wanda, especially if it makes us laugh in the process.

Villager's May 2009 Black Blog Rankings

Go Moni! It's your birthday month! Go Moni! It's your birthday month!

And now that the celebration of the blessing of me getting another year older is out of the way, let's see if I'll be doing more dancing as I peruse the latest edition of Electronic Villager's Black Blog Rankings.

The BBR's started in September 2007 with 75 ranked blogs and has exponentially grown since them to become a much anticipated monthly event in the Afrosphere.

In our last episode of tracing TransGriot's climb up the BBR mountaintop, I was still as of the April 12 compilation date of that month's BBR's whining about my stagnant 150 Technorati ranking, but for some reason still managed to climb to a Number 43 BBR ranking.

In May the BBR's ranked 1659 blogs, which is an increase of 30 blogs over the last ranking period. The runaway Number One BBR ranked blog is still, all together gang, Pam's House Blend. (bowing in direction of North Carolina) If you wish to see Numbers 2-25, check the link. The full May BBR ranking list is here.

The 2009 Blogging While Brown Conference is June 19-20 in Chicago, and the TransGriot is seriously thinking about going if I can make it fit my schedule. If I can commit to it, I'll announce it on the blog.

So let's get to it, how did the birthday girl do this month?

Well, I'm a little disappointed I didn't make it to my goal of reaching the BBR Top 25 and a 200 Technorati ranking by my birthday. I did finally start making forward progress in both the upward mobility and see a rise in my Technorati ranking after three months of stagnation, but the three months of treading water around the 150 mark killed any shot I had of achieving that goal.

So where's TransGriot now? As of the May 10 compilation date the blog has a BBR ranking of 37 and a Technorati ranking of 159.

I jumped 6 spots in the BBR's and gained 9 points. I knew that continuing to create quality posts and adhering to that standard would eventually pay off.

So that means I need to set a new target goal. It's still reaching the Top 25 BBR's and the 200 Technorati ranking by Labor Day, September 7.

Since it's going to take a lot of labor for me to get to that level by that date, making that a target date seems apropos.

Okay, time to me to blow out the candles on my birthday cake and get busy.

Our Special Show With Poet Staceyann Chin

Tune in to a special BlogTalkRadio show Renee and I will conduct at 8 PM EDT in which our guest will be performance poet Staceyann Chin!

We'll be 'telling you something good' as we talk about various issues with her. The online chat room for our site as always will be active and you can call in with your own questions to ask her as well.

So once again you can hear the show live starting at 8 PM EDT. If you're busy that evening you can always download it from the Womanist Musings show website.

So tune in to hear our special show with Staceyann Chin.

Moni Goes To Washington-Day 1

I've spent the last three days post birthday exercising my constitutional right to petitioning my legislators for 'redress of grievances'.

Translation: I've been lobbying.

Lobbying isn't just for high priced hired guns operating out of K Street offices, anyone can do it. Besides, I get the additional benefit of being in a large city once again, and a 9 hour drive from Louisville to Washington to boot.

We hit the road after stopping by a post office to drop off my mom and sister's Mother's Day cards. After a lovely drive down I-64 dodging showers through eastern Kentucky, the mountains of West Virginia, crossing the Virginia border and up and down I-81 and I-66 past several Civil War battlefields, Polar and I arrived at our hotel in Fairfax, VA a little after 9:30 PM EDT.

I found it a little amusing and inspiring that our hotel room had pictures of the Declaration of Independence and Thomas Jefferson on the wall. We also flipped it on the local news after grabbing a bite to eat and grabbing some supplies.

We watched the fireworks erupting over the 12-1 DC City council vote to recognize same gender marriages performed in other states. We discussed the irony of Marion Barry being the lone no vote as we watched the bigoted Black minsters show their anuses as well.

Polar and I beat 'errbody to DC, so we decided Wednesday morning (May 6) not to do any sightseeing and just get the lobbying party started since I had the daunting task of trying to hit as many of the 43 CBC offices as possible.

We clambered aboard the bus for our trip to the Vienna Metro Rail station. One of the reasons Polar chose that hotel was its proximity to the Washington Metro Orange line. Finding parking in the capital, much less battling it on the various freeways in and around the Washington area including the infamous Capital Beltway is a pain in the rear. Even though we had a longer commute in, we didn't have to change trains.

So our first stop was to see our own congressmember John Yarmuth (D-KY). He's a much busier guy on the Hill this session and he wasn't in. We'd just run into him at the local ACLU dinner a few weeks ago anyway and were paying our respects.

So we bounced over to see Andre Carson (D-IN). Although I am thoroughly pleased by my current Congressional representation, Andre being the rep for Indianapolis is my closest CBC rep. He's also the grandson of the late Julia Carson, who represented the area for ten years.

I always get to talk to at least one living breathing US congressmember, and this time it was Andre. I got to thank him and his staffers personally for his support of HR 1913 and for the piece he wrote on The Bilerico Project in support of GLBT rights. They were also pleased to discover that I was a contributing writer to the Project as well.

After that, it was off to Barney Frank's (D-MA) office to fulfill a promise I made to shake Diego Sanchez's hand. He was happy to see us and took a few moments out of his busy schedule to outline some of the issues of importance to the community he was working on as well as the constituents in the district.

I popped into Sheila Jackson-Lee's office to pay my respects to her. She'd sent me greetings through Vanessa Edwards Foster when Ness ran into her in Austin doing some lobbying back home. She wasn't in, but I did express my thanks to her staffer for her positive vote on HR 1913.

I ended the day with a stop at Rep. Barbara Lee's (D-CA) office. I'd visited it during my 2007 trip to DC and wanted to congratulate her on becoming the new chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Had a nice chat with her chief of staff and asked him to convey mine and the transgender community's appreciation for being a ally standing up for the transgender community.

It was getting close to our planned 4 PM meeting in the Longworth cafeteria with the rest of our intrepid lobbying team, so it was time to bounce. We kiled some time checking out the new Capitol visitors center, looking at the Supreme Court building and musing about who the president was going to nominate for the soon to be vacated seat of Justice Souter. I ended the day not only getting reunited with my Houston homegirl, but meeting Toni, Ro, and Rebekah as well.

We shoved off after the planning meeting to the Dupont Circle area for dinner. After a few hours of lively conversation about the past, present and future state of the transgender community, Polar and I had to call it a night in order to get back to hotel before the last train to our station stopped running along with the bus we'd have to catch to get there.

We did have some technical difficulties. We discovered the difference between the Green 1 and Green 2 bus routes as we left the rail station and endured a long winding bus tour through Fairfax and the George Mason University Fairfax campus. Just as we stepped off the bus in front of the hotel the skies opened up and we got drenched in a deluge.

But despite the detour, the first day we could consider a success. We'd gotten information that would serve us well over the next two days, set up our lobbying strategy and were ready to hit the Hill running tomorrow.

After we got some sleep.

Allen Andrade Gets Additional Jail Time

TransGriot Note: Crystal Ann Gray from the GLBT Center of Colorado sent me her report of the court hearing held yesterday in Greeley, CO. It was held to determine whether Allen Andrade would get more time added to his life sentence without parole for killing Angie Zapata.

I went back to Greeley, Colorado for the final sentencing of Allen Andrade. The hearing started out with the prosecution proving that he was a habitual offender with 6 prior felony convictions. Of course, the defense tried to prove he wasn't and failed.

At sentencing, Maria Zapata spoke once again and directed most of her comments to the judge. At one point she addressed Allen Andrade and you could tell her anger. Maria, however, kept check on her feelings.

Then a friend of Monica Zapata read a statement written by her to the court which revealed her relationship with her beloved sister Angie. At the end of the statement she asked the court to send Andrade to jail for the maximum he could get so he could rot in jail. In Monica's statement she (along with her mom) stated that Andrade showed no remorse and that he probably would not remember or be remorseful towards anything he had done. Andrade did receive 60 additional years and I found out that the wheels are already spinning in the court system for an appeal on the murder 1 charge. I expect the same for the other charges.

The prosecution also made a motion to drop three charges against Andrade for assaults he was involved in the jail. The judge accepted the dropping of those charges. Another court date is to be heard on the restitution of funds to the family as victim assistance. As it is right now the prosecution is asking for over $5000.

Also, the family and supporters are having the prosecution check into to make sure that Andrade does not receive any royalties for his story of killing Angie and that if he does that it goes to the family.


Ms. Crystal Ann Gray
Volunteer Transgender Advocate
GLBT Center of Colorado

Back From DC

Just walked into the house after a few days in our nation's capital. It was a much needed mini vacation, even though I spent it lobbying the Senate to pass SR 909, the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Bill and saying 'Thank You' to the House members who passed their version I got the pleasure to visit.

It was great seeing some old friends, meeting some new ones and getting my exercise bouncing back and forth between the various office buildings and exploring the area round the hotel in Fairfax, VA.

After I roll over and get some well-deserved sleep after the 10 plus hour drive I'll tell y'all what transpired in DC.

Shut Up Fool! Award-Mother's Day Edition

Mother's Day is this Sunday. Hope you peeps are showering your mothers (or mother figures) with love and are treating your mothers right.

Hope you are also getting the chance to spend some quality time with the woman that brought you into the world and when you misbehaved threatened to take you out of it.

Speaking of misbehaving peeps, let's see what peeps are fools only their mothers could love and earned our illustrious award this week.

Our Fool for this week is Amy Holmes. Miss Thang has been hatin' on President Obama since last year, probably because they have similar backstories. She has a white mommy and an African daddy from Zambia who didn't stick around for her childhood either.

She asserted during the May 3 broadcast of CNN's Reliable Sources that President Obama "is the fourth least popular of the past five presidents." In fact, Gallup itself recently reported that, by two different measures, Obama's approval rating is the second highest of any president since 1969.



President Obama's approval rating according to Gallup is definitely higher than Junior's. He lost the popular vote, stole an election with the help of the conservative wing of the Supreme Court and had objects thrown at the limo during the 2001 inauguration. Junior's approval rating was 55% at this point in his misadministration and falling until 9-11.

Amy Holmes, Shut Up Fool!

The Prez Is Right-We AREN'T A Christian Nation

The Religious Reich got their panties all in a bunch when President Obama stated during his recent European trip that the US isn't a Christian nation.

He's absolutely dead on target.

The First Amendment to the US Constitution states, 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.'

That's part of the Bill of Rights for the Christoilliterate in the blogosphere. What that means is that peeps have the right to worship as they please and the government cannot establish an official state religion.

We have people of many faith in this country, including folks for whatever reason don't care to follow any religious teachings.

But to blow up the 'Christian nation' fallacy, peep this language from the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli.

Article 11 of this treaty states;

Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

Translation, the intent of the Founding Fathers was quite clear in this treaty, though only in force for a few years, that "the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."

This reassurance to Islam was written under Washington's presidency, and approved by the Senate under John Adams.

But I'll let the President speak for himself. Here's what candidate Obama said last year.



So the Christobigots need to stop telling the lie that 'we are a Christian nation'. The way they practice their right-wing version of it makes it blasphemous to even part their lips to say it.

Virginia Foxx Showcases GOP Ignorance

If the GOP wants to know why they have been getting their asses kicked in national elections and has shrunk to just a regional party, look no further than their jihad against GLBT civil rights that leads to negative news coverage like this.

While it's great comic relief for me as a Democrat, and as someone who has tangled with the yahoo variety on more than several occasions, I am disturbed that its gotten this bad for the GOP.

It's also not good when one party is controlled by its nutcase fringe to the point where reasonable people are fleeing it.

Michael Steele has a tough job trying to sell this tainted brand to the American public, and especially peeps of color after decades of hatin' on us.

The anti intellectualism along with the racism turned me off toward them ever getting my vote as a college student, and they didn't do themselves any favors by trying to suppress my vote in the 1984 presidential election.

The Deep South GOP's are even worse, being the first ones taken over by the Christobigots. The Texas GOP for example has had party platforms which are more batshit crazy than the national GOP

But the problem with the GOP is that it has become an increasingly white male dominated, monoracial, anti-intellectual, hostile to civil rights far right wing party.

In many cases the so called minorites they hold up as examples in the GOP are far worse, because they are selling out their people just so they can look more 'conservative than thou' to fit in.

You can also count on women like Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Virginia Foxx (R-NC) to make themselves look like idiots on a regular basis along with a certain governor from Alaska.

This nation's two party system works best when you have two healthy parties fighting for the center. It pushes the other party to make the improvements or adjustments needed to come up with intelligent, long lasting policies that everybody can support and rally behind.

When you have a party that's not even trying to be centrist and adopting the Bushian 'you're either for us or against us' bunker mentality, that's not only bad for democracy, it's bad for the country as well.

I'm Shocked

I was talking to Dawn about a recent fencing tournament in Indianapolis she competed in that I couldn't attend. When she gave me the 411 about what happened at it, she also surprised me by telling me a few of her fellow fencers were looking for me.

Now for the most part I'm there at those tournaments to support her in addition to being fun to watch. Since that's her world, I try to stay in the background and let her be the center of attention in it. I've had some wonderful conversations with many of the peeps in the Great Lakes fencing region, the Veterans 40 and veterans 50 fencers, and various officials.

I've done stuff like babysat toddlers so their mom could compete on the fencing strip, been in the cheering section for other KY division/Vet fencers, and even volunteered to help at an LFC Pirates of the Caribbean themed Halloween party. I guess in the process I built up some goodwill among the fencing community.

Sometimes I find it incredible when I discover just how much of a footprint I leave in the various worlds I interact with. I was mildly shocked to find out from a Cleveland based flight attendant who remembered me from my CSR and ASA supervisor days in Houston while flying on a Continental trip back home. It was my first trip on the airline since we parted ways and I was flying back to Da Ville from speaking at last year's Trans Pride March.

Even though it had been seven years since I'd worn a CAL uniform at the IAH gates, she told me just how much I was missed by the Inflight crews across the system. The same thing has been reported to me by former IAH co-workers as well, who ask my homegirl Quinn how I'm doing and send messages through her as to how much they miss me.

Some of you may be amazed I feel this way, but I'm shocked sometimes at just how much love I get from peeps just for simply being me.

All I'm trying to do is simply treat people with the respect and dignity that they want to be treated with, listen to them when they have something to get off their chests, and be a loyal and supportive friend to all I'm blessed to have in my life.

Heading To DC

Once again I'm hitting I-64 east and heading to our nation's capital to talk to some congressmembers. I may even take some time on this trip to do a little sightseeing and souvenir hunting.

This time we're going to try a different routing. Instead of heading east on I-64 to Charleston WV, heading north up I-79 through Morgantown, and catching I-68/I-70 into Maryland and then dropping down I-270 into the Washington area, we're going to run through Virginia and see if the southern routing shaves off some time.

Either way, we're going to have to cross a mountain range, so the scenery will be just as beautiful no matter what direction we take.

If I get a chance to access a computer I'll keep you peeps posted. In the interim I'll do a diary of my time up there and post it when I get back from DC.

Thanks 'Errbody'!

Thank you to Renee and 'errbody' across the blogosphere and the Net who sent e-mailed birthday wishes, hit my Facebook account, mailed birthday cards, called or left messages on the birthday post I put up. It was deeply appreciated and made a somewhat blah day a little better.

It sucked to have to spend 'my' day at work, but I won't be complaining when I get the check next week.

Neither am I complaining about the love you showered down on me or the fact that I was blessed to make another year.

I also received my birthday present from the Houston Rockets. Read it and weep LA Faker fans. Houston 100-LA 92

May 4 Potpurri

I have a lot of company in terms of the peeps who share my birthday.

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak
Dawn Staley
Kimora Lee Simmons
Katherine Jackson (Janet's mom)
Jackie Jackson
Dr. Stanley Biber
Audrey Hepburn
Randy Travis
J. Fred Duckett (Astrodome announcer)
Randy Travis
Vladimir Lenin
Nick Ashford
Gary Bauer
George F. Will
Tyrone Davis
Ana Gasteyer
Lance Bass


The Horoscope For Today
from Jill M Phillips
HowStuffWorks

Taurus born on May 4 seeks to distill from life its purest essence. Where most people have a tendency to complicate events, these men and women want to enjoy life in a simple and unadorned fashion. Spiritually, these individuals set high standards for themselves.

Friends and Lovers

People born on May 4 have a charismatic personality that sets them apart. Because of this it is sometimes hard for May 4 people to know why people are drawn to them as friends. Love and romance bring a similar dilemma. They are easily swayed by flattery. May 4 men and women should use a great deal of discretion when choosing a life-mate.

Children and Family

The deep spiritual values possessed by May 4 people are generally the result of some profound experience during their childhood years. Their upbringing is likely to have been unusual or offbeat. They love children, and whether or not they have any of their own, they'll continually concern themselves with children's issues.

Health

May 4 people take an active interest in keeping themselves healthy. They eat well, exercise regularly, and rarely if ever have to worry about putting on excess weight. Frequent check-ups and the use of alternate remedies in addition to conventional ones can help ensure good health.

Career and Finances

With their dynamic personality and devotion to social causes, May 4 individuals prefer careers where they can make a difference in the world. They often choose politics, the law, social work, or family counseling. If they have considerable financial power they may use it to garner support for worthy causes. These people have simple tastes and seldom make a show of what they possess.

Dreams and Goals

May 4 individuals are philosophical types who ask "why not?" when contemplating a life change. They have a wildly optimistic view of life, believing that they can make the world a better place through their own efforts. No matter what kind of career they decide upon, these individuals are sure to favor humanitarian concerns.


Taurus Information for May 4
You should embrace: Interesting projects, joy, changes of venue
You should avoid: Anxiety, insecurity, drawing conclusions

NH Senate Kills Transgender Rights Bill On 24-0 Vote

Here's the bitter irony in this 24-0 vote. The New Hampshire Senate is the only legislative body in the United States in which women not only have the majority, but hold key leadership positions.

They can pass a gay marriage bill, but not join 13 other states that ban discrimination for transgender people in housing, accommodation and employment.

New Hampshire transpeeps, maybe it's time for you to channel that righteous anger you feel right now into getting politically active and running one of our own peeps as a candidate for the legislature.

So why the hell did a bill to ban discrimination against transgender people die?

"The bill had flaws," said Nashua Democratic State Sen. Bette Lasky who commended citizens for coming to the Legislature and telling heartfelt stories about their difficulty in keeping a job or getting a promotion.

What are the so called 'flaws' in the transgender civil rights bill that Sen. Lasky alluded to, and if they were there, why wasn't it amended in committee or on the Senate floor to eliminate them so the bill could pass?

Barrington Democratic State Sen. Jackie Cilley attacked the state Republican Party leadership and the media for referring to the legislation (HB 415) as the "bathroom bill."

"To those among you who repeatedly used the label the bathroom bill…and failed to tell the whole story and failed to tell the whole truth, I say you are not journalists, you are merely stenographers for your ignorance, hatred and discrimination," Cilley declared.

Yeah, but you voted to kill the bill. So that leads to the perception, Sen. Cilley, that on some level you agree with the deceptive spin and lying of the media, the GOP and the rest of the Forces of Intolerance cabal you decried in your statement.

Far from dissuading the use of the 'bathroom bill' attack spin against transgender civil rights legislation by the Forces of Intolerance, you and your colleagues have given it new life.

It's sad that you and your senate colleagues didn't show the courage of the New Hampshire House and Speaker Terie Norelli. It passed by one vote after she spoke on the floor and helped convince the House to adopt the bill on a second attempt.

My transpeeps can handle as Dr. King called it finite disappointment. But this vote is bordering on spirit crushing territory.

And what good does it do to have moderate-progressives in control of the legislature if you're going to vote like right wing conservatives?

So how long will my transgender brothers and sisters in the Nutmeg State have to wait for their legislators to pass laws that allow them to 'live free or die'?

And will you find the courage to do so?

NY State Assembly Passes GENDA

We're at the halfway point for transgender rights in New York State with the passage April 21 of GENDA by a wide margin in the Democratic controlled State Assembly.

Governor David Paterson (D) has indicated he will sign the bill if it passes the state legislature, which ends its current session on Monday, June 22.

GENDA would prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and expression in employment, housing, public accommodations, access to credit, and other key areas. The Gender Expression Non-discrimination Act also would add gender identity and expression as protected categories in the state's human rights law.

The bill has broad public support according to a March 2008 poll by Global Strategy. 78 percent of registered New York voters favor passage of a bill to protect transgender rights.

GENDA debate according to the Gay City News only took 15 minutes before the Assembly passed it for the second year in a row. The bill now moves to the Senate where Democrats for the first time since 1965 have achieved a slim 32-30 majority. While under GOP control last year the bill died without being taken up.

Ignatieff Officially Becomes Liberal Party Leader

Renee and some of the other Canadians I converse with on a regular basis tell me about their disenchantment with their 'pit bull in a sweater vest', AKA Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper.

Their yearning for their own victory over conservatism north of the border may be coming soon. Last weekend the Liberal Party held their convention in Vancouver and formally voted to take the 'interim' tag off Michael Ignatieff.

Say hello to Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, who received support from 97 per cent of the 3000 delegates attending the convention. He has been the party leader on a interim basis since Stephane Dion resigned in the wake of their October federal election loss.

“You can feel a longing for change sweeping across the land,” Ignatieff said in his acceptance speech. “If we offer our citizens a message of hope I believe Canadians will ask us to form their next government.”

And during the part of his speech that slammed PM Harper, Ignatieff stated, “You have failed to understand that a prime minister has one job and only one job, which is to unite the people of this country. Mr. Harper, you have failed us. If you can't unite Canadians, if you can't appeal to the best in all of us, we can.”

The 'we can' echoed the 'Yes, we can' slogan of President Obama's presidential campaign, who is more popular in Canada than he is here in the States. President Obama during his whirlwind visit to Canada did meet with Ignatieff last February, and they share ties to Harvard University.

Ignatieff gave no sign that he planned to force an early election, despite a Nanos Research poll showing the Liberals with a narrow 36 to 33 per cent lead over the Conservatives.

But that poll, conducted in the wake of recent statements by Ignatieff that tax increases might be needed to pay for deficits being accumulated by the Canadian federal government to pull Canada out of recession, reveals that only 27 per cent of Canadians thought that Ignatieff would make the best prime minister, compared with 32 per cent for Harper.

Stay tuned as the political intrigue in the 'Great White North' continues.

Happy Birthday To Moni

My favorite day on the calendar next to Christmas has finally arrived.

It's Cuatro De Mayo, AKA my birthday.

On this day at 10:45 PM CDT in the Lone Star State yours truly arrived on the planet. I look much different now that I did when I arrived in the world, and it's all good.

Thanks to everybody who has wished me a happy birthday so far and will do so before the end of the day. You don't know how much I appreciate it.

For the most part today is shaping up to be a good news-bad news kind of day. While I'm celebrating the fact I made it to another birthday, have my health, a roof over my head, and was blessed to see an African-American president inaugurated and doing spectacularly well in the job.

On the other hand I'm feeling homesick again, frustrated because it's been a while since I've traveled anywhere, moody because I took my last 'mones a few days ago and have to reload in addition to having to work until midnight later today.

But unlike most years in the weeks leading up to my birthday, this year I didn't spend a lot of time lamenting stuff. Maybe it was probably because I was busy with this blog and other writing assignments, the podcast and just simply living my life. I didn't have time to whine about stuff I can't change, the goals I haven't reached yet, or my dreams that as of yet remain unfulfilled. I didn't have time to mope about or ponder the various moments in time in which I made decisions back in the day that turned out to be life altering ones. I have to suck it up, put on the big girl panties and deal with it.

Could things be better? Yep. Do I need to make some improvements in my life in a few areas? Yes. Do I need to realize it's still not too late to make my dreams come true and stop being so hard on myself because it didn't happen sooner? Yep. Could I stand to lose ten pounds? Umm hmm. Do I need to do a better job of staying in touch with friends and family back home, around the country and the world? You betcha.

Do I need to lay off the Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream? Um....no.

This year I took the advice I give to others and applied it to myself in terms of counting my blessings.

I love the peace of mind and happiness I live my life with since transition. I have picked up a wonderful new friend to complement the ones that are already in my life. The blog is in another positive growth phase. I still look divalicious, even if I'm not feeling it some days. I have my health, a job and money in my purse.

I also get another chance to hit the road with Polar in 24 hours, and y'all know how much I love road trips.

And best of all I love the person I see in the mirror when I wake up in the morning.

Podcast Show With Jessica Valenti Postponed

Renee and I were set to do a special edition of our Womanist Musings podcast radio show tonight at 8 PM EDT with Feministing.com Executive Editor and author Jessica Valenti, but Jessica advised us on Friday she was going to have to reschedule the interview due to illness.

We know many of you were anxious to hear our discussion about her book The Purity Myth and are just as disappointed as we were to hear that news.

She has offered to reschedule it, and when we confirm the new podcast show date with her, we'll pass that info along to you.

In the meantime, if you absolutely, positively wanted to hear me and Renee's meodious voices on your computer speakers or through your iPod's, you can head over to the show website at BlogTalkRadio and download our archived ones.

Our regularly scheduled shows happen every two weeks on Saturdays from 8-9 PM EDT, and the next scheduled show is on May 9

Ambassadors For The Transgender Community

When I was back home in Houston, there was a sign posted in every GLBT bar that was a not so subtle reminder of what I'm about to talk about in this post that stated:

What I do reflects on you
What you do reflects on me
What WE do reflects on the ENTIRE gay community.

When you are a marginalized community which habitually gets saddled with mostly negative press, it is incumbent upon you to ensure that you aren't doing anything in your daily interactions with the cisgender world to reinforce those stereotypes.

People of color have no problem understanding this concept, but it seems as though some of my white brothers and sisters have difficulty grasping the fact that the so called 'rugged individualist' mentality you operated under before your transitions no longer applies.

Civil rights are won not just with sweeping legislation, lobbying, protest marches, Trans 101 panel discussions or with precedent setting court decisions, but also by one on one personal contact in addition to all of the above.

It's hard to hate on or justify denying civil rights to someone when you have to look them in the eye, have some in your circle of friends or come to the realization that your stance impacts other human beings.

So it's incumbent upon us as a community to approach every interaction with the persuadable general public as a chance to create an ally.

In other words, we need to be ambassadors for the transgender community.

All it takes is simply just living your life, treating people with the same respect and dignity that you wish for yourself, be proud of being a transperson, and being the charmingly gracious person you are every day.

I'm not saying you have to wear an 'I'm trans' t-shirt in terms of expressing your pride in yourself. Expressing pride in yourself is multi-layered. It's standing up straight, looking people in the eye, giving firm handshakes, having intelligent conversations about a wide range of subjects in a manner that will go a long way toward creating positive impressions about you.

By the time the cisperson figures out or you tell them you are trans, once you honestly and forthrightly answer the questions they have about the issue you fell comfortable with, hopefully the groundwork you previously laid will just have them take the news with a grain of salt and you can move on to other subjects.

And hopefully you've not only made a lifelong friend for yourself, but created an you made an ally in the process for the trans community as well.

'Stealth' Update

I posted back in March about the movie Stealth, which stars Alexandra Billings and Jennifer Fontaine and is directed by Marlo Bernier.

Got a recent update from Marlo in terms of how the film is progressing. She's at the 'picture-lock' phase, and then the film moves on to the sound editing phase.

I thank her and the Stealth team for keeping me updated so I can share it with you loyal TransGriot readers.

I'm looking forward to seeing this film when it finally hits my local theater.

The 'Conscience Of The Congress' Helps HR 1913 Pass

One of the things I get tired of hearing ad nauseum from elements of the white gay community is that tired 'Blacks are more homophobic' meme.

Compare and contrast Republican Virginia Foxx's remarks on HR 1913 vis a vis the remarks of CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) speaking on behalf of the just passed bill.



The Congressional Black Caucus is 43 members strong, with 42 congressmembers, one senator, and a former member living at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Two members, Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Donna Christian-Christensen (D-VI) are non voting delegates. G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina and Al Green of Texas missed the roll call vote on HR 1913 but previously voted for Hate Crimes and ENDA

So out of the 37 members who cast votes on HR 1913 and 36 voted yes.

Artur Davis (D-AL) voted against the bill.

There's always gotta be one.

So explain to me white gay community, if we Black people are 'so homophobic', why did 36 out of 37 available CBC members vote for this legislation?

Time to bury that tired meme once and for all.

H/T Rod 2.0 Beta

Don't Want EBONY Or JET To Die

Tami had a post in March that discussed her take on whether we should do more as a community to keep our iconic magazines alive.

While some folks are hollering 'let them die', I have a problem with that knee jerk shortsighted view of the situation, even though I have mixed emotions about it.

As a historian, I don't like the idea of losing EBONY and JET, much less contemplating a world without its needed voice. As many of you did, I perused the older issues of EBONY and JET at my grandparents house growing up and I spent hours perusing those issues and reading the history that unfolded before my eyes. I also chuckled at some of the back in the day ads that served as a time capsule for the period.

It seems that everybody had a subscription to those two magazines when I was growing up, and whether you were at your cousin's house in Mississippi, your uncle's place in Los Angeles, EBONY or JET would be sitting in a prominent place in their living rooms. One of the first things I did after moving out of my parents house was get my own EBONY subscription.

Thanks to the late visionary John H. Johnson, these magazines since 1945 have been covering our stories, our people and our history when white owned magazines would barely touch our communities, much less tell our stories in a balanced way.

Without EBONY and JET, much of the Civil Rights history probably wouldn't have seen the light of day. Many of Dr. King's essays were published in the pages of EBONY. Our iconic stars on stage, screen, television and the sporting worlds wouldn't have gotten the coverage they deserved.

Our history would have less documentation, especially in the 70's when it seemed that every time you turned around there was another African-American breaking new ground or we had another 'First Black' making history.

And tell the truth, many of you already have copies of the issues of EBONY and JET relating to the historic 2008 election of President Obama, the inauguration and the historic Obama administration.

One of the reasons that African descended supermodels grace the catwalks now is because of Eunice Johnson and the Ebony Fashion Fair. Not only did it clue designers in on the fact that Black women had dollars to spend on high fashion clothes, the traveling fashion show has raised tens of thousands of dollars over the years for various charitable organizations in the African-American community.

Fashion Fair Cosmetics and its success clued white owned makeup companies into the fact there was a large customer base they weren't meeting the needs of.

But on the other hand both those magazines have been behind the curve for a while in terms of developments inside the AA GLBT/SGL community, something I've long complained about on TransGriot.

It's sad for example, when Isis got more love in white owned magazines than she did in our iconic Black ones (and ESSENCE falls in that category as well).

I'm for giving Linda Johnson Rice the help she needs because the Johnson family deserves that much from us. I'm seriously thinking about renewing my subscription especially since I'm buying them off the racks so much these days I may as well save myself some cash and get it delivered to the crib.

But my support comes with a condition and an ultimatum. I want EBONY and JET to do a better job of covering the entire African-American community. News of our community just doesn't begin and end in middle class African-American communities. There needs to be a serious effort toward inclusive coverage of the entire spectrum of the AA community.

Because as someone who grew up around Black radio and knows the power of Black owned media, it's easier to tell your story when you own the printing press, the television show and the radio station as opposed to depending upon someone else with built in biases to honestly tell the story of your people for you.

Supreme Court Sistahs?

One of the reasons I definitely wanted President Obama in the Oval Office is because I recognized years ago the fact that we have several people old enough, especially on the liberal-progressive side who could retire and create Supreme Court vacancies.

If we got lucky one of those vacancies could open up on the conservative side and tip the balance back to the progressive side.

While I honestly believe that the Souter replacement nomination is going to go to a Latina and it's past time that a Latino/a get on the court, I think the nomination of an African-American woman to the Court is long overdue as well.

There are some well-qualified ones that should get that call, especially to counterbalance the self hatred of Uncle Thomas.

One who has been mentioned is current Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears. She became the first African-American woman to become a superior court judge in 1988. When she was appointed to the Georgia Supreme Court by Governor Zell Miller in 1992, she was the youngest person to sit on the Georgia Supreme Court.

On June 28, 2005 she made history again when she became the first African-American female chief justice anywhere in the United States when she was sworn in as the Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. Interestingly enough she has decided to retire from the Georgia Supreme Court at the end of her term in June 2009.

There's also another trailblazing sistah that President Obama can consider in Vicki Miles-LaGrange, the chief US district justice for the Western District of Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma City native has the legislative experience he's looking for, having been the first African-American woman elected to the Oklahoma Senate and serving in that body from 1986-1993 while conducting a private law practice.

She's not only served in the Department of Justice as a criminal trial attorney in Washington DC, she also prosecuted sex crimes as an Assistant DA in Oklahoma County.

She was nominated in September 1994 by President Bill Clinton and became the first African-American federal judge in the 10th District.

Then there's my personal favorite in Constance L. Rice, the second cousin of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

As the Co-Director of the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund Los Angeles Office, Rice has filed class action civil rights cases redressing police misconduct, race and sex discrimination and unfair public policy in transportation, probation and public housing. Rice has led multi-racial coalitions of lawyers and clients to win more than $4 billion of injunctive relief and damages.

Talk about someone who would be the antithesis of Clarence Thomas.

There are other Supreme court quality sisters at various levels of the federal and state judiciary that we'll probably get to hear about in the next few years.

When that historic moment finally does happen, Thurgood Marshall can rest easy in the fact that the next African-American to take the bench will be light-years more worthy of building on his giant legal legacy.

2009 MissTiffany's Universe Pageant Coming Soon

Well peeps, it's that time again in Pattaya, Thailand.

The 2009 edition of the Miss Tiffany's Universe pageant will be held May 10-15. The 12th annual competition will be fierce when transwomen all over Thailand head to the Tiffany's Theater for the first round eliminations that will whittle the field down to the thirty girls that will compete over the next several days for the tiara.

The May 15 finals will be televised live on Thai TV.

As I've noted before, the Thais are serious about their beauty pageants, and the Miss Tiffany's Universe pageant is taken just as seriously as any other pageant in the Land of Smiles.

The winner gets a 100,000 baht cash prize, a Honda Jazz car, and prizes. She is also give the same national love and respect as the other Thai pageant winners in the major cisgender pageant circuits such as Miss Universe and Miss World.

The Miss Tiffany's Universe pageant also has in their mission statement some serious goals in terms of promoting human rights awareness and creating positive images for transwomen internationally. Some of the winners have gone on to bigger and better things in Thai society.

While people may debate whether a pageant is the right vehicle for that, one thing you can definitely count on is that neither pageant fails to get international news coverage.

The Miss Tiffany's Universe winner also represents Thailand in the Tiffany's Cabaret sponsored Miss International Queen pageant. The Miss Tiffany's Universe is for Thai transwomen only, while the Miss International Queen one is open to transwomen from around the world.

Last year politics intruded on the 2008 Miss International Queen pageant. It was canceled due to the Thai political drama that led to the international airport being shut down.

It not only put a severe crimp in the Thai tourist industry, it also kept 2008 winner Kangsadal Wongdusadeekul from competing against the rest of the world's transwomen. Because of last year's drama, Thailand will have two representatives in this year's Miss International Queen pageant.

With the new government in place, let's hope Thailand and its people get a long period of political stability.

It's also going to be interesting to see who emerges as the 2009 Miss Tiffany's Universe winner.

Alright Rockets! Beat LA!

My hometown NBA ballers did something in the playoffs they haven't done since 1997.

Won a first round NBA playoff series.

Yep, the TransGriot was living in her southwest Houston digs the last time my boys won a playoff series. Wednesday night they eliminated the Portland Trail Blazers by pasting a 92-76 beatdown on them in Game 6 to take the series 4 games to 2.

Ron Artest dropped 27 points in this game, with Yao Ming chipping in 17 points and snatching 10 rebounds while guard Aaron Brooks tossed in 13 to send the Rockets out of the first round winners for the first time in 12 years.

Their reward is to play the top seeded Los Angeles Lakers in the second round. But before y'all write off my Houston homeboys, better check your NBA playoff history. We have a nasty habit of knocking off Number One seeded Laker teams, especially if they're wearing NBA crowns.

Exhibit A- 1981 NBA Playoffs. The 40-42 Rockets knock off the defending champion LA Lakers in the first round.



Exhibit B-The 1986 NBA Playoffs-The Rockets, armed with the Twin Towers, stunned the defending champion LA Lakers in the Western Conference finals by taking three straight games to win the series 4-1.



It would be fun for me to see an I-45 NBA Western Conference Final series between my Rockets and the Mavericks for the NBA State Championship.

The 1981 and 1995 I-10 Western Conference Finals series with the San Antonio Spurs were fun to watch, especially since my boys won the State Championship and continued to the NBA Finals. One of those first round series losses was courtesy of the Mavericks so revenge would be sweet in this case. But we have to get past the Lakers first and Dallas has to knock off a Number Two seeded Denver Nuggets team in order for that series to happen.

Hey, a girl can dream, can't she? It would be a nice birthday present if the Rockets beat the Lakers in Game 1. Go Rockets!

Beat LA! Beat LA! Beat LA!

Happy 25th Anniversary SBH!

This month marks the 25th anniversary of what has become an iconic publication for Black women in the US, Sophisticate's Black Hair.

It has also been an invaluable part of my transition as well.

Sophisticate's Black Hair or SBH as we fondly call it has had my undivided attention ever since I spotted the debut issue of it on my local Walgreen's magazine rack back home in May 1984. That debut issue had a smiling Jayne Kennedy Overton on the cover and quickly become the go to magazine when you were looking for anything Black hair related.

SBH was the brainchild of publisher James B. Spurlock. It was his dream to meld positive imagery, great journalism and a powerful 'Black Is Beautiful' message inside the pages of a magazine. While EBONY, JET and ESSENCE did the Black community's heavy lifting in that regard, there was a need for an SBH as well to sing and celebrate the praises of Black hair.

And 'sang' they did. As I flip through some of my old copies it was not only a cultural mirror of the times, it also serves as a style time capsule as well.

There have been a wide range of people that have graced the covers of SBH from Oscar winner Halle Berry to Tyra Banks to current fave Rihanna. There have been SBH interviews done with various Black women about their hair styling secrets that range from our various sistah Miss USA's to various actresses to the First Lady of the United States.

SBH also covers the wide range of hairstyles from bone straight to natural to locs, how to replicate them and take care of it at home in between the salon visits. It even offers advice and tips on the business side of it and advice from beauty experts.

When I was looking for a shorter hairstyle I perused multiple issues of it until I discovered one that fit me perfectly.

I also loved its ongoing mission of focusing on the beauty of Black women, and they even focus on Da Fellas from time to time. They will interview well known African-American men who will wax poetic sometimes on why they love sistahs or other issues.

And in every anniversary issue they name the 10 Best Styled Women of the Year as chosen in a poll of SBH readers.

I know you're curious, so here are SBH's 2009 Best Styled Women:

Rihanna, Mary J. Blige, Keyshia Cole, Beyonce, Tyra Banks, Queen Latifah, Halle Berry, Ciara (take that haters), Alicia Keys and Jennifer Hudson.

So congrats SBH for 25 wonderful years of singing the praises of the beauty of Black women and our hair, and may the next 25 years be just as spectacular.

Justice David Souter Plans To Retire

It's been a bad week for the Repugnican Party, and the news just got worse.

Justice David Souter, who was appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, after 19 years on the Supreme Court plans to retire at the end of this session in June or when his successor is confirmed.

This gives President Obama his first chance to select a younger Supreme Court justice for the liberal-progressive wing of the court. They can definitely use it since Justice Stephen Breyer is 70, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 76 and Justice John Paul Stevens is 89. Souter at age 69 was the baby of the group.

So who will President Obama choose?

I think it will be either a Latino/a or an Asian, since neither group has never had a person from their particular ethnic groups on the Court. Latino/a's were critical to the president's election, and he needs to show them some love. There is also sentiment to have a woman appointed to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

There will be pressure to add another African-American to the court to not only cancel out Clarence Thomas. There has also never been an African-American woman selected as a Supreme Court justice either.

The conservative wing isn't exactly a bunch of spring chickens either. Antonin Scalia is 73, Anthony Kennedy is 70, Clarence Thomas is 60, Samuel Alito is 59 and Chief Justice John Roberts is 54.

Judging by the age of the members of the court, it looks like he'll have some additional opportunities to make Court appointments as his first presidential term moves along.

Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Bill Passes House!

"I urge members on both sides of the aisle to act on this important civil rights issue by passing this legislation to protect all of our citizens from violent acts of intolerance." President Barack Obama

As we've stated for a decade, a hate crimes bill would pass with transpeople in it and did!

On Wednesday the Democratic-controlled United States House passed on a 249-175 vote and sent to the Senate the Federal Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, also known as the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Bill.

"Hate crimes motivated by race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, and identity or disability not only injure individual victims, but also terrorize entire segments of our population and tear at our nation's social fabric," House Democratic Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said while urging the bills passage.

The current law which was enacted forty years ago limits federal jurisdiction over hate crimes to assaults based on race, color, religion or national origin.

The bill broadens the original law by classifying as hate crimes those attacks based on a victim's sexual orientation, gender identity or mental or physical disability.

The Senate version of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, was introduced Tuesday by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) who stated the legislation is "long overdue" and "hate crimes are especially poisonous."

"They are acts of domestic terrorism that target whole communities, not just individuals," he said. "This bill will bring greater protection to our citizens and much-needed resources for state and local law enforcement to fight these vicious crimes."

Other sponsors of the Senate bill include Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Arlen Specter (D-PA). A Senate Judiciary Committee spokesperson said she didn't know when the committee would take up the legislation.

Let's savor this historic event, ensure it passed the Senate and let's get cracking on ENDA.

Shut Up Fool! Award-Kentucky Derby Edition

The 135th running of the Kentucky Derby happens in Da Ville tomorrow. We'll find out which horse wins the first leg of the Triple Crown and ends up in the Winner's Circle crowned with roses.

Today is Ladies Day at Churchill Downs with the running of the 135th Kentucky Oaks. All the races run today involve fillies including the Oaks. Just as the winner in the Derby gets a garland of roses, the winning horse in the Oaks gets crowned with a garland of lilies.

So sticking with the horse racing theme for this week's awards, I know y'all are ready for me to get to it, so lets see what horse's rear end wins the race for fool of the week.

There were many worthy contenders, but there is only one that was so breathtakingly stupid she's now in the running for a Shut Up Fool! lifetime Achievement Award.

And no, it wasn't Rep. Michele Bachmann.

That would be Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina. I'll give you one guess what party she reps, but the folks in Winston-Salem might consider replacing her next year with somebody that has some brain cells and a 'D' behind their name.

While arguing against the Matthew Shepard Hate Crime bill she said on the House floor the Shepard murder was a hoax. Foxx said Shepard wasn't killed in 1998 because he was gay but because he was involved in a robbery.

She said this as Matthew Shepard's mother Judy was sitting in the gallery watching the debate on this legislation.



She also asked during the House Rules Committee meeting for the bill why prostitutes weren't included, because people who hate prostitutes as a class sometimes murder them for this reason.

"Should there be an amendment to this to say that prostitutes are a protected class? "Why is it worse to go after someone who's gay than going after someone who's a prostitute?"

Rep. Virginia Foxx, shut up Fool!